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ESSAY 



ON 



THE AUTHENTICITY 



OF 



THE POEMS OF OSSIAN. 



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ESSAY 



ON 

THE AUTHENTICITY 

OF THE 

POEMS OF OSSIAN 

IN WHICH 

THE OBJECTIONS 

OF 

MALCOLM LAING, Esq. 

ARE 

PARTICULARLY CONSIDERED AND REFUTED. 

BY 

PATRICK GRAHAM, D.D. 

MINISTER OF ABERFOYLE. 



TO WHICH IS ADDED AN ESSAY 
OX 

THE MYTHOLOGY OF OSSIAN'S POEMS, 

BY 

PROFESSOR RICHARDSON 

OF GLASGOW COLLEGE. 



EDINBURGH : 
o 

printed by James Ballantyne 4* Co. 

FOR PETER HILL, ARCHIBALD CONSTABLE AND CO. 
AND WILLIAM HUNTER, EDINBURGH; BRASH AND REID, GLASGOW 
JOHN MURRAY, AND LONGMAN, HURST, REES, AND ORME, 
LONDON. 

1807. 



N\ 



.57 



TO 

HIS GRACE 

THE DUKE OF ATHOLL, 

PRESIDENT, 

AND THE OTHER NOBLEMEN AND GENTLEMEN 

OF THE 

HIGHLAND SOCIETY OF SCOTLAND, 

THE PROPER PATRONS OF CELTIC LITERATURE, 
THIS ESSAY 

ON 

THE POEMS OF OSSIAN 

IS 

MOST RESPECTFULLY DEDICATED 

BY 

THE AUTHOR. 



INTRODUCTION. 



±t may appear to many, that the en- 
durance of the public has been long ago 
exhausted, by the disquisitions which 
have been offered concerning the aera 
of the poems ascribed to Ossian. To 
many persons, it has appeared to be a 
matter of little consequence whether 
these poems are to be considered as 
ancient or modern ; whether they are 
to be regarded as the production of 



vi INTRODUCTION. 

the Son of Fingal, or of a learned Scot 
of the eighteenth century. 

Were this merely a question in which 
national vanity was concerned, it is 
admitted that it is a matter of little 
importance, whether this celebrated 
poetry is to be attributed to one of our 
countrymen, who lived in the third, or 
in the eighteenth, century. It is con- 
ceived, however, that the question in- 
volves much more important consider- 
ations : it is presumed, that the gene- 
ral history of literature, and even that 
of the human mind itself, are deeply 
interested in its investigation. 

If, on the one hand, it be found, 
that the poems ascribed to Ossian were 
composed fifteen hundred years ago, in 
a language and dialect which are still 
understood and spoken in the High- 



INTRODUCTION. vii 

lands of Scotland, a very singular view, 
surely, presents itself, of the condition 
in which society must have existed in 
a country and period which have been 
usually accounted barbarous ; and, from 
this view, an enquiring mind will be 
naturally led to carry its researches 
farther into the history and manners 
of the early inhabitants of Caledonia. 

If, on the other hand, it be ascer- 
tained, that these poems were compo- 
sed by a contemporary, imbued, as Mr 
Macpherson certainly was, in a very 
respectable measure, with the litera- 
ture of Greece and Rome, as well as of 
modern times, we are presented with 
a phenomenon still more inexplica- 
ble. That such a person should have 
produced a body of poetry, which 
has been justly considered as posses- 



viii INTRODUCTION. 

sing so high a merit as " to have given 
" a new tone to poetry throughout all 
" Europe;"* but, at the same time, de- 
void of all modern allusion, and form- 
ed neither in its imagery or expression 
on the model of those ancient authors, 
who have communicated their peculiar 
colouring, so generally, to all modern 
compositions ; appears to be a circum- 
stance still more strange, than the sup- 
position of the high antiquity which 
has been ascribed to it. 

In this point of view, then, it should 
seem, that the question of the antiqui- 
ty and authenticity of these poems, 
must always be considered as interest- 
ing, not only to literature, but even to 
the philosophy of the human mind. 

* Edinburgh Review, No. XII. Art. 7- 



INTRODUCTION. 



At a very early period in this con- 
troversy, Dr Johnson, a man whose 
name must ever be held in veneration 
by the friends of literature and virtue, 
but who appears to have been very un- 
qualified, on account of his prejudices, 
and his too slight investigation of this 
subject, to form a just estimate of its 
merits, decisively pronounced these 
poems to be a modern imposture. The 
sum of Dr Johnson's argument, on 
this occasion, however, is of too small 
amount to require any particular no- 
tice. It may, indeed, be more proper- 
ly considered in the light of personality 
towards James Macpherson, and to- 
wards Scotland, than in that of legiti- 
mate reasoning. 

Of late, however, a more formidable 
opponent of the antiquity of these 



INTRODUCTION. 



poems has appeared. Malcolm Laing y 
Esq. Advocate, and now Member of 
Parliament for the county of Orkney, 
has, in a Dissertation annexed trt the 
second volume of his History of Scot- 
land, endeavoured, by a formal and very 
elaborate series of arguments, to prove 
that this poetry is modern, and that 
it is the production of Mr James Mac- 
pherson. The arguments of Mr Laing 
appear to have made a very consider- 
able impression upon the public mind; 
and many persons, probably, as well as 
himself, have considered some of them 
as unanswerable. 

Some years ago, the Highland So- 
ciety of Scotland, with that liberality 
of research which has always interested 
it in every thing that concerns the ho- 
nour and advantage of North Britain, 



INTRODUCTION. 



appointed a Committee of its number 
" to enquire into the Nature and Au- 
" thenticity of the Poems of Ossian." 
The Report of the Committee has ap- 
peared, drawn up by the elegant pen 
of Henry Mackenzie, Esq. its chair- 
man. In this very interesting work, 
many important circumstances, rela- 
ting to Celtic literature in general, and 
to the Poems of Ossian in particular, 
are brought forward, and placed in a 
luminous point of view. This is, in- 
deed, what might have been expected 
from the learned and accomplished Au- 
thor, assisted by able Celtic scholars 
and antiquarians, and favoured with 
an extensive correspondence, carried on 
by himself, and his associates of the 
Committee, throughout the Highlands. 
The Committee, however, properly 



xii INTRODUCTION. 

regarding its own dignity, as the repre- 
sentative of the most illustrious public 
association of men that now exists in 
Britain, or perhaps in Europe, has 
chosen, on this occasion, to maintain a 
becoming reserve. Anxious only to col- 
lect facts, it has been little solicitous 
to offer opinions, or to enter into con- 
troversial discussion. The important 
facts, which it has collected, are laid 
before the public, and to these it is left 
to make their proper impression. 

The Committee having thus decli- 
ned to enter into the argument, it may 
be deemed presumptuous in an indivi- 
dual, favoured with far scantier means 
of information, to attempt to revive the 
controversy, or to pursue it to a greater 
length than has been already done. 
But it may be permitted to remark, 



INTRODUCTION. 



that though the Committee of the High- 
land Society of Scotland has, very pro- 
perly, considered it as beneath its dig- 
nity to stoop to the refutation of the 
arguments of Mr Laing, it may not be 
improper for one, who has little to lose, 
and who may have the good fortune to 
gain some advantage in the discussion, 
to enter the lists even with this power- 
ful antagonist. 

It is proper, at the same time, to 
observe, that the object of the Com- 
mittee has, unquestionably, been, in 
a very great measure, accomplished, 
by the vast body of valuable observa-, 
tions and facts which it has collected, 
and by the ample field which it has 
thus opened up for the speculations of 
those, who may be disposed to enter 
into the controversy. Of these import- 



xiv INTRODUCTION. 

ant observations and facts, together 
with the conclusions which may be 
drawn from them, the Author of these 
pages will take the liberty, from time 
to time, to avail himself. 

Without pretending to follow the 
formal and minute divisions of Mr 
Laing's Dissertation, it is proposed to 
consider, in the order in which they 
occur, those topics that may appear to 
relate more essentially to the antiquity 
and authenticity of this poetry ; and, 
in this view, it would seem, that the 
suject will be exhausted, by taking 
into our account the following parti- 
culars ; viz. The Period in which these 
Poems are said to have been compo- 
sed—The State of Society and Man- 
ners, in the age in which Ossian is sup- 
posed to have flourished — The Mode 



INTRODUCTION. xv 

in which these Poems are represented 
to have been transmitted to us — And, 
finally, The Manner in which they have 
been collected, translated, and pub- 
lished, by Mr Macpherson. In this 
course of treating the subject, it is pro- 
posed to advert to the arguments ad- 
vanced by Mr Laing, as they occur. 

It is necessary to say, that the lite- 
rary merits of these poems constitute 
no part of the argument, which it is 
proposed to discuss. Mr Laing may 
find in them " bombast, extravagant 
" rants, and contemptible conceits." 
An opportunity will occur of shewing, 
that, if such instances of false taste are 
to be found, they are to be imputed to 
the translator, and not to the original. 
But to vindicate the general merits of 
this poetry is foreign from the purpose 



INTRODUCTION. 



of this Essay. It may suffice to say, 
that it has been long admired, both at 
home and abroad, by persons whose 
taste and literature will not suffer by 
a comparison with those of any man 
whatsoever. 

But, laying aside the consideration 
of the merits of these poems, if they 
are indeed as ancient as they are re- 
presented to be, they furnish, as Mr 
Hume has remarked, " one of the great-. 
" est curiosities, in all respects, that 
" ever was discovered in the common- 
" wealth of letters/'* They evidently 
afford a fair promise of throwing much 
light on the early history and manners 
of an interesting people ; and the few 



* See Mr Hume's Letter on this subject to Dr 
Blair ; Report of the Committee, p. 8. 



INTRODUCTION. 



remaining monuments of a language 
unmixed with any foreign idiom, a 
phenomenon not to be met with else- 
where, at this day, in Western Europe, 
seem to present an important subject 
of speculation to philosophic minds. 

It is only necessary to add, that, in 
the few translations of passages cited 
from ancient authors, which it has been 
sometimes thought proper to give, fi- 
delity to the original has been studied, 
more than elegance of expression. 



CONTENTS. 



PAGE. 

SECTION I. 

Of the Period, in which these Poems were 

composed. Connection with Roman 

History. — Carausius. — Caracalla. — Ap- 
pellations of Places in Ossian's Poems. — 
Orkneys. — Carrickthura, 1 

SECTION II. 

Of the State of Society, in the Ages in which 
Fingal and Ossian are supposed to have 
flourished. — Estimate of the Character 
and Manners of the Caledonians, by Dion 
Cassius, Herodian, Tacitus, iElian, &c. 

5 



xx CONTENTS. 

PAGE. 

— Druidical Institutions. — Silence con- 
cerning Religion. — Domestic Circum- 
stances, id 

SECTION TIL 

Of the Mode in which these Poems have 
been preserved, and transmitted to us 
through so many Ages, 56 

Part I. 

The Political Situation of Caledonia, during the 
last Fifteen Centuries — The Dominion 
and Influence of the Celts.— The sup- 
posed Invasion of Riada. — The Bardic 
Order.— Transmission of the Poetry of 
Homer. — Recitations of ancient Gaelic 
Poetry, by Persons still, or very lately, 
alive, • . 58 

Part II. 

The unaltered State of the Language in which 
these Poems have been composed. — The 
peculiar Character, and idiomatic Form, 
of the Gaelic, 97 



CONTENTS. xxi 

PAGE. 

SECTION IV. 

Of particular Terms and Expressions which 
occur in these Poems; and which Mr 
Laing argues to have been borrowed 
from other Languages. — The Opinion of 
Mr Pinkerton, and of the Edinburgh 
Reviewers, examined, with regard to the 
Gallic Invaders of the Italian Territory. 
— The copiousness of the Gaelic, in Ex- 
pressions, to denote the Appearances of 
external Nature, and the Feelings and 
Passions of the Human Mind.- — Esti- 
mate of Mr Lainsfs alleged Instances of 
borrowed Expressions, 107 

SECTION V. 

Mr Laing's alleged Imitations of ancient and 
modern Authors considered. — Avowed 
Imitations; and accidental Coincidences 
of Thought and Expression, in Authors, 
who could not possibly have had any 
Communication wilh each other. — Ca- 



zxii CONTENTS. 

PAGE. 

nons of Criticism, applicable to this Sub- 
ject, with Examples, . . . . 137 

SECTION VI. 

Particular Examination of Mr Laing's al- 
leged Imitation of ancient and modern 
Authors. — Addresses to the Sun, Moon, 
and Evening Star. — Imitations of Pope, 
Job. — Maxims of the Highlanders, con- 
cerning the Course of Human Affairs. — 
Imitations, continued in Mr Laing's 
Order, of Virgil, Catullus, Homer, Mil- 
ton, 156 

SECTION VII. 

Alleged Imitations of Sacred Scripture con- 
sidered. — Rhyme occurring in Ossian. — 
Proof of the Use of Rhyme, in AVales, 
before the Twelfth Century, from Gi- 
raldus Cambrensis. — Conclusion of Re- 
marks on Mr Laing's Criticism, 194 



CONTENTS. xxm 

PAGE. 

SECTION VIII. 

Estimate of the different Collections of Gae- 
lic Poetry which have been made ; — by 
Mr Jerome Stone; Mr Duncan Ken- 
nedy ; and Dr John Smith, 207 

SECTION IX. 

Mr Macpherson' s Collections of Gaelic Poe- 
try. — Early Suspicions of their Authen- 
ticity. — Strengthened by some Expres- 
sions used by Mr Macpherson. — Esti- 
mate of his Abilities. — His Highlander, 
and his Translation of Homer, 248 

SECTION X. 

Internal Evidence of the Authenticity of these 
Poems. — Exemplified by a literal Trans- 
lation of the Seventh Book of Temora, 
published, in the Original, by Mr Mac^ 
pherson, at an early Period, compared 
with his own Translation. — That Mr 
Macpherson has, in many Instances., 
in his Translation, suppressed and add- 



xxir CONTENTS. 

PAGE. 

ed; and that he has frequently misun- 
derstood his Original. — Testimonies of 
his having been but very imperfectly 
-skilled in the Gaelic Language, . . . ^. . 270 



APPENDIX. 



No. I. 

Enquiry into the Existence of the Druidical 

Order in Scotland, 383 

No. II. 
The Origin of Superstition, illustrated in the 
Mythology of the Poems of Ossian ; by 
Professor Richardson, 411 

No. III. 
Letter of James Macpherson, Esq. to Captain 

Morison of Greenock, 445 

Postscript, 447 



ESSAY 



THE AUTHENTICITY 

OF 

THE POEMS OF OSSIAN. 



SECTION I. 



Of the Period in which these Poems were composed. — 
Connection with Roman History. — Carausius. — 
Caracalla. — Appellations of Places in Ossian's 
Poems. — Orkneys. — Carrickthura. 

The period which has been generally as-* 
signed as the sera of Ossian, is the begin- 
ning of the third century. It is admitted, 
that this deduction can be made only from 



2 ON THE AUTHENTICITY 

the internal evidence of the poems which 
have been ascribed to him. In a case like 
this, we can expect no collateral evidence 
from the contemporary writers of Greece 
and Rome, to whom the language of the 
Caledonians was unknown, and by whom 
they themselves were accounted barbarous. 

I am therefore disposed to consider, in 
the same light that Mr Laing does, the at- 
tempt which has been made, by Mr Mac- 
pherson, to connect these poems with the 
history of the Romans. What, indeed, can 
be more improbable, as Gibbon long ago re- 
marked, than " that the son of Severus, 
" who, in the Caledonian war, was known 
" only by the name of Antoninus, should be 
" described, in these Poems, by a nickname 
" invented four years afterwards, and scarcely 
" used by the Romans, till after the death 
" of the emperor." I may add, that nothing 
can be more absurd than to suppose, that 
the inhabitants of Rome should bestow, 



OF OSSIAN'S POEMS. 3 

upon their emperor, a nickname of Celtic 
etymology.* On Mr Macpherson's connec- 
tion of this period with Roman history, by 
supposing Caros to have been the usurper 
Carausius, I lay equally little stress. But, 
because Mr Macpherson, the translator of 
these poems, has chosen to imagine such 
connections, does it follow, that the authen- 
ticity of Ossian must stand or fall with their 
fate ? Because Mr Macpherson has thought 
it proper to identify the Balclutha of Ossian 
with the Alcluith of Bede, does it follow, 
that there was no Balclutha ; and that there 
is no foundation for the interesting account 
of the adventures of Carthon ? 

It must be observed, however, that it is 
by no means a consequence of these admis- 

* Caracul, in Gaelic, signifies, " Of the Fierce Eye;" 
but we know, that the name of Caracallus, or Caracalla, 
was given, at Rome, to the emperor, on account of a gar- 
ment of a particular form, and of a similar denomina- 
tion, which he had introduced there. — See Spartian, in 
Antonino Caracallo, p. 159. 



4 ON THE AUTHENTICITY 

sions, that the events, related in the poems 
ascribed to Ossian, did not take place about 
the period which has been generally assign- 
ed; that is, whilst the Romans occupied 
that part of Caledonia which lies to the 
south of the wall of Antoninus. We have 
the authentic evidence of Roman history, 
and of Roman remains still existing, to 
prove, that, even in the time of Agricola, 
the northern and western Caledonians — the 
people to whom these poems relate, and 
amongst whom they are said to have been 
composed — were a numerous and warlike 
race of men ; and that their incursions into 
the Roman province, in that, and during the 
succeeding periods of Roman domination, 
were frequent and formidable. 

In the poems, accordingly, we find, as 
might have been expected, many express al- 
lusions to these encounters between the na- 
tives and the Roman invaders. But who 
was the hero " of the fierce eye ;" or who 



OF OSSIAN'S POEMS. 5 

was " Caros king of ships/' we cannot hope 
to be able, at this distance of time, precisely 
to determine. 

It may be remarked, that the very name 
of Romans does not once occur in these 
poems. As individuals are always denomi- 
nated, by Ossian, from their personal quali- 
ties, — a practice common amongst all na- 
tions in the earlier stages of society, — so 
nations and countries, mountains and rivers, 
receive their appellations from the circum- 
stances by which they are peculiarly distin- 
guished. The Romans are, in these poems, 
called " the Strangers :" one country is 
denominated Innis-aaine, or, " the Green 
" Isle ;" and another Erin, or " the West- 
" ern Isle :" a hill is denominated Gormal, 
or " the Blue Hill:" and a river, Carun, 
" the Winding Stream ;" or Balbha, il the 
" Silent." 

But, except in the few, — the very few in- 
stances, in which these places have retained 



6 ON THE AUTHENTICITY 

their ancient denomination, amidst the in- 
termixture of tribes, and the shifting of pos- 
sessions and interests, which have taken 
place, during the lapse of more than four- 
teen centuries, it is now almost impossible 
to determine what country, or mountain, or 
river, is spoken of in these poems. That 
Erin is Ireland ; Lochlin, some part of Scan- 
dinavia ; and Morven, (Mor-bheinn,) the 
mountainous part of Scotland, the proper 
kingdom of Fingal, we may indeed conclude 
with a degree of probability approaching to 
certainty. 

Mr Laing, indeed, with his usual gratui- 
tousness of assertion, observes, on this sub- 
ject, " that Lochlin was a name unknown 
" till the ninth century."— That the Celtic 
appellation of a country, with which only 
the Celts had intercourse, should not have 
been adopted by Greek and Roman writers, 
is precisely what might have been expected. 
But, in refutation of Mr Laing's assertion, it 



OF OSSIAN'S POEMS. 7 

fortunately happens, that we have a Gaelic 
manuscript, which Mr Astle has ascertained 
to have been written in the ninth or tenth 
century ; and which appears to have been 
composed between the fifth and eighth cen- 
turies, in which the name of Lochlin, as ap- 
plied in these poems, frequently occurs. Of 
this valuable manuscript an interesting ac- 
count is given, by Dr Donald Smith, in the 
Appendix to Mr Mackenzie's Report on the 
Poems of Ossian. Dr Smith observes also, 
that, in a Welsh treatise, written about the 
end of the seventh century, we read, " that 
" the warlike Irp conducted a fleet to Llych- 
" lyn ;" on which Mr Edward ;Llhuyd re- 
marks, that, "by this name, we understand 
" Sweden, Denmark, and Norway."* 

* To shew the fallacy of this mode of reasoning, from 
the circumstance, that the name of Lochlin does not oc- 
cur in any author, with which Mr Laing is acquainted, 
I shall only mention, that, had the small, but valuable, 
treatise of Tacitus, De Moribus Gcrmanorum, been lost, 
like many other ancient compositions, in the wreck of 



S ON THE AUTHENTICITY 

Mr Laing also seems to lay much stress 
on his detection of Innis-tore, (in Dr Smith's 
collection, Innis-ore,) as the denomination 
of the Orkneys, to which Fingal is said to 
have made some noted expeditions. Mr 
Laing learns, from Solinus, that, in A. D. 
240, " the Orkneys were altogether unin- 
" habited." But, on what grounds he prefers, 
in this instance, the authority of Solinus to 
the unquestionable testimony of Tacitus, it 
is impossible to conjecture. That we may 
judge of Solinus's knowledge of the Orkney 
isles, it may be proper to observe, that he 
states their number to be three, instead of 
thirty, as given by Pomponius Mela; and 
forty, as given by Pliny. Solinus adds, that 
they were uninhabited. But Tacitus ex- 
pressly informs us, that the fleet of his 
father-in-law, Agricola, in its circumnaviga- 
time, the name of Englishmen (Angli) could not have 
been found, at this day, in any other author, prior to the 
period of Gregory the Great. 



OF OSSIAN'S POEMS. 9 

tion of Britain, " first discovered and con- 
" quered the Orkneys." And, if Tacitus can 
be credited in any thing, he surely must, in 
this account of a transaction conducted by 
so near a relative, and with whom, too, he 
lived at Rome, for many }^ears after, in ha- 
bits of the most familiar intercourse. We 
find Juvenal, about the same period, and in 
allusion to the same event, speaking of the 

Modo CAPTAS 



Orcadas, et minima contentos node Britannnos. 

But is it to be supposed, that the historian 
should relate, and the poet allude, to the 
conquest and capture of islands which had 
no inhabitants ? # 

It does not appear, then, that any mate- 

* Breda indeed relates, (Histor. Eccles. ch. 3-) " that 
the Orkneys were added to the Roman empire, by Clau- 
dius, during his noted expedition to Britain. But what 
is the value of Baeda's authority, compared with the 
" modo captas" of Juvenal, and the " incognitas ad id 
tempus Orcadas" of Tacitus? 



10 ON THE AUTHENTICITY 

rial circumstance, in the Poems themselves 
has a tendency to invalidate the opinion 
that they are to be referred to the period in 
which the Romans occupied Caledonia, and 
even to the commencement or middle of 
the third century, I speak only of the 
Poems ; of Macpherson's dreams I make no 
account. 

It is true, as has been said, that it is only 
from the internal evidence, furnished by the 
Poems themselves, that we can infer the 
period of their composition. But what other 
source of evidence could we, in this in- 
stance, expect ? Could it be expected that 
Tacitus, or Herodian, or Dion Cassius, should 
inform us, that there existed, amongst the 
Caledonians, certain poems, of very superior 
merit, composed in the Celtic language, the 
preservation and transmission of which, to 
posterity, would well reward the labours 
of a Greek or Roman antiquary ? No, sure- 
ly. The contempt, in which the Greeks and 



OF OSSIAN'S POEMS. 11 

Romans had been accustomed to hold all 
other nations, whom they stigmatized with 
the epithet of barbarous, was an effectu- 
al bar to their favourable opinion ; or even 
to a just appreciation or report of whatever 
merit they might possess, either in science 
or literature. Of all the writers of antiquity, 
Julius Caesar seems to have displayed the 
greatest candour, and the fairest spirit of li- 
berality, in giving an account of the nations 
esteemed barbarous; an eminent instance of 
which we have, in the view which he has 
given us, of the^high attainments which the 
ancient philosophers of Britain had made, in 
different departments of science.* 

I am sufficiently aware, that, until the 
antiquity and authenticity of these Poems 
can be previously established, no argument 
can be drawn from the internal evidence 
which they afford, concerning the period in 

* See Cms. de Bell. Gull. lib. vi. c. 14. 



12 ON THE AUTHENTICITY 

which they were composed. But the extent 
of my inference is limited accordingly. I 
would only infer, that nothing has been ad- 
duced from ancient history, or even from 
the Poems themselves, which can be fairly 
considered as contradictory to the position, 
that they belong to the period, which has 
been assigned: and, still further, I would 
argue, that, if it can be proved, from other 
considerations, that these Poems are really 
ancient, this, and no other, is the period, to 
which they are to be referred. 

It is in this view of the^ subject, that I 
think it almost unnecessary to advert to 
the proofs of their spuriousness adduced, by 
Mr Laing, from the history of the middle 
ages. In the name of Fingal's friend, Cat- 
hula, Mr Laing " easily discerns" Ketil, the 
son of Biarno, who lived in the beginning of 
the tenth century. But, in order to assist 
his readers in " discerning" this, he informs 
them, that Cathula must be pronounced 



OF OSSIAN'S POEMS. IS 

Cat-huiL Mr Laing, in this, as well as in 
many other articles of Gaelic erudition, has 
been misled. He must suffer himself to be 
informed, that Cat hula is pronounced, in 
the Gaelic, Ca-huil, and signifies, " the Eye 
" of Battle." An objection, of seemingly 
greater consequence, is drawn from Ossian's 
assigning a name of Celtic etymology 
(Carrick-thura) to the palace of the king of 
the Orkneys, " where, at this day," he adds, 
" all the names of places are Norwegian or 
" Gothic." But, it may be asked, whether 
the inhabitants of these isles were Goths, 
and their language the Gothic, in the se- 
cond and third centuries ? or, if they were, 
is it not most probable, that the names, by 
which places and persons, in the Orkneys, 
were designated by the Caledonians, were 
of Celtic origin ; and imposed, by the Cale- 
donians, according to the distinctive charac- 
ters of the places or persons, in the usual 



14 ON THE AUTHENTICITY 

manner of early nations, and of early times? 
In the writings of the ancients of Greece 
and Rome, we know, that nothing was 
more common than to denominate places 
and persons, not by the names given them 
in their own country or language, but by 
names constructed according to the genius 
of the language into which they were trans- 
ferred. Thus, Ctesias, a Greek, in his As- 
syrian history, — borrowed from records, 
which he found in the court of Persia, — 
uniformly gives to the kings, not their As- 
syrian names, which he found in the record, 
but names of Greek etymology, which he 
considered as of similar import. Diodorus 
Siculus, in his account of Egypt, gives to 
the heroes of that country, not their Egyp- 
tian names, but Greek names, which he 
considered as bearing the same significa- 
tion. This practice, so common amongst 
ancient writers, seems to arise naturally 



OF OSSIAN'S POEMS. 15 

from that state of society, in which deno- 
minations are given to individuals, which 
are designed to be descriptive of their pecu- 
liar qualities. 



16 ON THE AUTHENTICITY 



SECTION II. 

Of the State of Society in the Ages in which Fingal 
and Ossian are supposed to have flourished. — Es- 
timate of the Character and Manners of the Ca- 
ledonians, by Dion Cassias, Herodian, Tacitus, 
Mlian, fyc. — Druidical Institutions. — Silence 
concerning Religion. — Domestic circumstances. 

i he Greeks and Romans, in the pride of 
superior civilization, bestowed the epithet of 
barbarous on all other nations. It is no 
wonder, then, that the Caledonians, a people 
still in the first stages of society, were sub- 
jected to that appellation. Yet, before we 
proceed, let us endeavour *to form a fair es- 
timate of what is reported of their character 
and manners, by the most respectable au- 
thors of Greece and Rome. 



OF OSSIAN'S POEMS. 17 

Of all the ancients, who have given us an 
account of the manners of our Caledonian 
ancestors, Dion Cassius and Herodian have 
drawn the most unfavourable pictures. Yet 
what is the amount of all that Dion advan- 
ces ? He tells us, " that the country is rug- 
" ged and bleak ; that the inhabitants sub- 
" sist chiefly by hunting, and pasturage, and 
(i on fruits ; that they are addicted to plun- 
" der ; that they fight from cars ; that their 
" infantry is firm in action, and rapid, either 
" in pursuit or flight ; that their arms are a 
" shield, a dart, and a dagger, with a ball of 
" metal at the point to astonish the enemy 
" with the sound, when it is brandished." # 
Dion farther bears witness to their hardiness 
in enduring hunger, and fatigue, and cold. 

* Tacitus, a far more respectable authority, in point 
of acuteness, as well as opportunity of information, tells 
us, that they wore very large swords, (ingentes gladii.) — 
Agric. c. 36. 

B 



13 ON THE AUTHENTICITY 

He adds, " that they have their women in 
" common." 

Now, I confess, that, in all this testimony, 
if we except the last circumstance, which 
Mr Laing himself candidly rejects, I can 
perceive nothing but that ordinary admixture 
of violence and of bravery, of ferocity and of 
generosity, which constitutes the character 
of nations, in the earlier stages of society. 

The testimony of Herodian is very nearly 
the same, to the character of hardiness, and 
intrepidity in swimming and wading over 
their rivers and morasses, without regard to 
the inclemencies of the weather, — exertions, 
on which the Romans prided themselves in 
the polished days of Horace : — he adds the 
common account of their painting their 
bodies ; and of their propensity to war and 
shedding of blood. Jerome, an eye-witness, 
is cited, as asserting, that the Attacotti, (who, 
however, by the consent of all, did not inha- 
bit Caledonia, in the period assigned to Fin- 



OF OSSIAN'S POEMS. 19 

gal,) were addicted to eating human flesh. 
This also Mr Laing very candidly rejects. 

Such is the amount of the testimony of 
those ancient writers, concerning the barba- 
rism of the Caledonians. But why did Mr 
Laing, in elaborating this point, throw the 
unquestionable authority of Tacitus into the 
shade ? For I must, in this instance, as be- 
fore, call his authority unquestionable ; be- 
cause he enjoyed the best opportunities of 
being informed. His father-in-law, Agri- 
cola, had been, during the space of about 
seven years, commander of the Roman forces 
in Britain; he had penetrated farther into 
Caledonia than any that had preceded him ; 
and, after his return to Rome, his son-in-law 
lived with him, for many years, in habits of 
the utmost confidence and intimacy. 

In speaking of the Britons in general, 
Tacitus furnishes us with an instance of ci- 
vilization, which is commonly, and most 
justly, esteemed the criterion of polished so- 



20 ON THE AUTHENTICITY 

ciety ; namely, the high respect which was 
paid to the female character; the distin- 
guished rank assigned to the women ; and 
the value, in which their opinion was held, 
in the most important transactions. He 
tells us, " that the Britons were wont to 
" make war under the conduct of females ; 
" and that they placed their wives near the 
" field of battle, that they might witness the 
" successes of their husbands." # To assign 
a high importance to females, seems, indeed, 
to be a common feature in the character of 
a people, in the earlier stages of society; 
and it appears not a little singular, that 
nations revert to this same sentiment, in 
their most polished periods. Tacitus says, 
" that the Germans thought, that there re- 
" sided in females, something sacred and 
" prescient; they neither reject," says he, 
" their counsels, nor neglect their responses." 

* Tac. Ann. lib. xiv. c. 34. 35.; De Mor. Germ. c. 8.; 
and Caes. Bell. Gall. lib. i. c. 51. 



OF OSSIAN'S POEMS. 21 

This, too, is a distinguishing feature in 
the manners described by Ossian; and, to 
those who have not attended to this remark- 
able trait in the history of the Celts, it has 
furnished an argument against the authen- 
ticity of these poems. It is certain, that, 
though the chief elegancies of life, and the 
most refined charms of modern society, have 
arisen from the influence of female character 
and manners, this refinement was altogether 
unknown to the Greeks and Romans, in 
their most polished times. In this respect, 
they were, according to every feeling of mo- 
dern times, themselves barbarians ! It is humi- 
liating to the nature of man to reflect, that 
their highest attainments, in the elegancies 
of life, consisted in increasing the modes of 
luxury, and in multiplying the resources of 
sensuality. In the high consideration, in 
which the female character was held amongst 
the Celts, on the other hand, we are furnish- 
ed with a pleasing picture, which verifies its 



n ON THE AUTHENTICITY 

genuineness, by the simplicity of its traits. 
It is a picture, which is exhibited, on all oc- 
casions, by Ossian; and so far is it from 
suggesting an argument of modern fabrica- 
tion, that it evidently affords an internal 
character of truth, and an indelible impres- 
sion of authenticity, stamped by the just re- 
presentation of ancient Celtic manners. 

In speaking of Caledonia particularly, 
Tacitus takes notice of ample states beyond 
the Forth ; * and bears honourable testimony 
to their skill in warlike operations. We find 
them, previous to the celebrated battle of the 
Grampians, with the wisest counsels; sending 
embassies to the surrounding states; form- 
ing alliances; and adopting every measure 
which prudence could suggest, or valour at- 
chieve, in order to repel the impending dan- 
ger. Above thirty thousand armed men, 
" besides the daily accession of young men, 

* Tac. Agric. c. 25. et seq. 



OF OSSIAN'S POEMS. 23 

" and of aged heroes, famed in war," as- 
semble under Galgacus, whom, by common 
consent, according to the usual manner of 
the Celtic nations, they had chosen for their 
leader. Immediately before the battle, Gal- 
gacus addresses his soldiers, in a speech, full 
of good sense and knowledge of the respec- 
tive interests of the contending parties ; full 
of temperate valour and patriotic eloquence. 
Making every due allowance for the manner 
of the ancient writers, of framing speeches 
for the personages whom they introduce, it 
seems scarcely possible to suppose, that such 
a writer as Tacitus could, without some 
foundation in fact, put such a speech as this 
into the mouth of a mere savage. 

The conduct of the battle, too, s on the 
part of the Caledonians, evinces, notwith- 
standing their final defeat, very considerable 
judgment and military skill. Their masterly 
evolutions and undaunted bravery had, more 
than once, by the acknowledgment of the 



24 ON THE AUTHENTICITY 

historian, rendered the issue of the day 
doubtful. Such is the testimony of Tacitus; 
and I would ask, if this be the picture of 
" a nation of naked sanguinary barbarians, 
" armed with a shield, a dart, and a dagger; 
" almost destitute of iron, which they prized 
" like gold 5 and living promiscuously in 
"wattled booths ?"* 

To the generosity and bravery of the 
Celts, of whom the Caledonians are unques- 
tionably to be reckoned a branch, iElian, 
who wrote about the period under our con- 
sideration, bears the most honourable wit- 
ness : — " To this contempt of danger," he 
adds, " they are prompted by songs, in ho- 
" nour of those who have bravely fallen, and 
" by trophies and monuments dedicated to 
" them, after the manner of the Greeks." f 

Aristotle, too, had, many centuries before, 
borne witness to the undaunted heroism of 

* See Laing's Dissertation, p. 395. 
t iElian Hist. Var. lib. xii. c. 23. 



OF OSSIAN'S POEMS. 25 

the Celts, which he even seems to reckon 
to have bordered on unwarrantable rash- 
ness : — " They fear," says he, " neither earth- 
" quakes, nor the waves of the sea." # And 
Arrian testifies, that they said to Alexander, 
" that they were afraid of nothing, but lest 
" the heavens should tumble down." 

The truth seems to be, that we are not 
warranted, by any just principle of reason- 
ing, in forming conclusions beforehand con- 
cerning the various shades of distinction, 
which, under different circumstances, may 
mark the manners of any particular nation, 
or period of society. In order to conclude 
justly, a previous or collateral acquaintance 
with the particular nation, or state of so- 
ciety, is indispensably necessary. With re- 
gard to China, for instance, unless we had 
the indubitable evidence of historians and 
travellers, how difficult would it be to con? 

* Arist. Eth. lib. iii. c. 7. 



26 ON THE AUTHENTICITY 

ceive, that, for more than two thousand 
years, the state of society, of arts, of science, 
and of agriculture, has been stationary; 
whilst, in every other nation of the earth, 
these circumstances have undergone innu- 
merable and incalculable changes ? Who 
could predicate of the sequestered inhabit- 
ants of the Pelew islands all the gentleness 
and humanity of European manners ? or of 
the Otaheitans, the dissipation of the latter 
ages of Rome, joined to the mildness and 
docility of the most polished people of mo- 
dern times? 

On this ground, it would seem, that we 
are not warranted to attribute absolute bar- 
barism to our Caledonian ancestors, merely 
from the consideration of the country and 
period in which they lived, and the state of 
society in some contemporary nations. We 
should allow its just weight to every scat- 
tered hint furnished by writers of undoubted 
credit ; and to every accidental circum- 



OF OSSIAN'S POEMS. 27 

stance which may have had any influence in 
characterising the manners and condition 
of the people. 

Though the Caledonians had not, at this 
period, arrived at those refinements, which 
distinguish the commercial, or even the agri- 
cultural state of society, yet it appears, from 
the testimony of the authors who have been 
cited, that their population was very consi- 
derable ; that they were well versed in the 
art of war ; that they possessed a high ge- 
nerosity of mind ; and that they placed their 
chief glory in independence. 

We know, that the mode of living, the 
domestic accommodations, and even the 
external scenery, which daily strikes the 
eye, have a powerful influence in forming 
the character, and in giving a tone to the 
ideas of a people. Even in the Highlanders 
of the present day, whose characters have 
not undergone a change by the contact of 
foreign manners, we may still trace the 



28 ON THE AUTHENTICITY 

mode of thinking and of acting, which dis- 
tinguishes the personages of Ossian. Ac- 
customed to traverse vast tracts of country, 
which have never been subjected to the hand 
of art; contemplating, every day, the most 
diversified scenery; surrounded everywhere 
by wild and magnificent objects ; by moun- 
tains, and lakes, and forests, the mind of 
the Highlander is expanded, and partakes, 
in some measure, of the rude sublimity of 
the objects with which he is conversant. 
Pursuing the chace, in regions not peopled 
according to their extent, he often finds him- 
self alone in the gloomy desart, or by the 
margin of the dark frowning deep ; his ima- 
gination, tinged with pleasing melancholy, 
finds society in the passing breeze, and he 
beholds the airy forms of his fathers descend- 
ing on the skirts of the cloud. When the 
tempest howls over the heath, and the ele- 
ments are mixed in dire uproar, he recogni- 
zes the angry spirit of the storm, and he re- 



of ossian's poems. 29 

tires to his secret cave. Such is, at this day, 
the tone of mind which characterizes the 
Highlander, who has not lost the distinctive 
marks of his race by commerce with stran- 
gers; and such, too, is the picture which has 
been drawn by Ossian. 

Nor need we be altogether surprised at 
the sublimity of sentiment, and generosity 
of manners, which are ascribed to his per- 
sonages by Ossian, if we take into account 
some peculiar institutions, which we may 
conclude, upon the best grounds, to have 
existed, in Caledonia, at a still earlier period. 
The principal of these was, that of the Drui- 
dical order, together with its appendage, that 
of the Bards ; and if, soon after the period 
of Ossian, his countrymen did sink into 
deep barbarism, it is chiefly to the abolition 
of that illustrious hierarchy, that this strik- 
ing change must be attributed.* 

* Aware that the existence of the druidical order in 



SO ON THE AUTHENTICITY 

The Druids, according to the universal tes- 
timony of antiquity, were highly distin- 
guished by their attainments in every de- 
partment of the most valuable science. They 
taught, as we are informed by the unques- 
tionable testimony of Julius Caesar, f the 
immortality of the soul; — in common with 
the Magi of the East, from whom, it is pro- 
bable, as Pliny insinuates, J that they deri- 
ved their philosophy, they held the doctrine 
of transmigration ; they taught the science 
of the stars, and of their motions ; they in- 
structed the youth, that resorted to them, 
in physics, or concerning the general nature 
of things ; and, ascending to the mysteries 
of theology, they taught the doctrine of the 
immortal Gods. Strabo (lib. iv.) informs us, 
to the same purpose, that the Druids taught 

Scotland has been denied by some, I reserve the proofs 
of their establishment there for a separate dissertation. 

f Cces. Bell. Gall. lib. vi. c. 14. 15. 

t Hist. Nat. lib. xxx. c. 4. and Pomp. Mela, lib. iii. 
c. 1. 



OF OSSIAN'S POEMS. 31 

the immortality of the soul : — " 'Affaprae rat 
tyx&A hiyovai" And Lucan says, 



Vobis auctoribus umbm 



Non tacitas Erebi sedts, ditisque profundi 
Pallida regnapetunt; regit enim spiritus artus, 
Orbe alio longa, canitis si cognita, vitce. 

Pomponius Mela (lib. iii.) informs us, " that 
" the Druids profess to know the magnitude 
" and form of the earth and of the world* 
" the motions of the heaven and of the stars, 
" and the will of the gods." 

In these sublime and important studies, 
the disciples of the Druids spent sometimes 
no less than the space of twenty years. All 
their science and history were committed to 
memory alone. Though the art of writing 
was known amongst them, it was held un- 
lawful to commit their doctrines to wri- 
ting. Caesar accordingly adds, that it was 
usual, for the disciples of the Druids, to com- 
mit a vast number of verses, in which, no 



32 ON THE AUTHENTICITY 

doubt, their science was contained, to me- 
mory. 

We have here, it must be acknowledged, 
a very respectable view afforded us of the 
philosophy of the Druids, by an author, 
whom all will allow to have been a compe- 
tent judge. 

Though this hierarchy had been extermi- 
nated in Caledonia, according to tradition, 
somewhat prior to the period of Ossian, and, 
in England, according to Tacitus, somewhat 
earlier still, yet so recently had their cata- 
strophe taken place, that Ossian might have 
had a full opportunity of acquiring the 
knowledge which they taught ; or, at least, 
that portion of it which was usually commu- 
nicated to the bards. Persons of the high- 
est rank accounted it honourable to be 
initiated in the mysteries of the Druids** 

* Docent multa nobilissimos gentis, clam et diu, vicenis 
annis, in specu et abditis saltibus. — Pompon. Mela. lib. iii. 
c. 1. 



OF OSSIANS POEMS. 33 

Cicero # informs us, that Divitiacus, the 
JEduan, with whom he was personally ac- 
quainted, was of this order ; and that, from 
his knowledge of nature, " partly by augu- 
" ries, and partly by conjecture, he said, 
" that he could foretel what was to hap- 
" pen."f It can scarcely be doubted, that 
the son of Fingal took occasion to imbibe 
some portion of this knowledge, and to im- 
prove his sublime genius, by all the acquisi- 
tions that were within his reach. 

Of the occasion and manner of the over- 
throw of the Druidical order in Scotland, we 
can expect no account from the writers of 
Greece and Rome, as it was a domestic 
transaction, with which the Romans had no 
concern ; and it is surely worthy of remark, 



* Cic. de Divinatione, lib. 1. 

f " They instruct," says Pomponius Mela, (lib. iii. 
c. 1.) ** persons of the highest rank, in secret, and for a 
■ long time,— during twenty years,— in caves, and reti- 
" red recesses." 



34 ON THE AUTHENTICITY 

that, had not the destruction of the Druids 
in Anglesea been particularly connected 
with the operations of the Roman army un- 
der Ostorius, it is probable, that we should 
have had no evidence from Tacitus, at least, 
that this order had ever existed in England. 

The account of the overthrow of the Drui- 
dical hierarchy, which is handed down by 
tradition, is, at least, far from being impro- 
bable ; viz. That the princes of the Fingal- 
lian dynasty, who had been originally elected 
to the supremacy, according to the manner 
of the Celtic nations, only for the impend- 
ing occasion, feeling themselves, at length, 
firmly established in their power, refused to 
resign it, as had always hitherto been done, 
to the Druids ; and that, in the struggle, the 
Druids fell, and were finally extirpated. 

Here it may not be improper to remark, 
that, in two poems, published by Dr Smith 
in his collection, one entitled, " Dargo, the 
" Son of the Druid of Bel," and the other, 



OF OSSIAN'S POEMS. 35 

" Conn, the Son of Dargo," (which, if not 
the most poetical, are surely, of the whole 
collection, the most interesting in a histori- 
cal view,) we have a particular, and very 
striking account of the progress and issue of 
the contest between the Druids and the 
house of Fingal. 

Here, then, we find, in Celtic Caledonia, 
an illustrious order of sages, who, during a 
long period, had poured a stream of light on 
these northern lands. Happily, before it 
was extinguished, the transcendent genius 
of Ullin and Ossian, of Alpin and Carril, 
had caught the irradiation of its departing 
splendour. They had imbibed, even from its 
declining lustre, a refinement of ideas, an 
elevation of sentiment, and an elegance of 
poetical composition, which we still admire, 
but which, when we take into account the 
discipline in which they were initiated, 
should not excite our surprise. Those cele- 
brated men have left behind them a mass of 



36 ON THE AUTHENTICITY 

poetry, to which a succession of bards, ex- 
tending through more than fourteen cen- 
turies, have been able to add nothing ;-— -but, 
conscious of their immense inferiority, have 
satisfied themselves, during the darkness 
which ensued, with committing to memory, 
and reciting, the productions of happier 
times. 

This asra, so illustrious in poetry and in 
arms, is termed, in Highland tradition, — 
current at this day, — " An Fheine" an ex- 
pression which it is difficult to render into 
any other language, without a periphrasis. It, 
for the most part, signifies the Fingallian 
race, or that dynasty of heroes, which be- 
gins with Trenmor and ends with Ossian. It 
sometimes denominates the period of time, 
during which that dynasty subsisted; and, 
sometimes, the whole race of men, who lived 
during that period. 

Mr Laing's grand argument, against the 
antiquity and authenticity of these Poems, 



OF OSSIAN'S POEMS. 37 

is founded on the utter improbability, that 
such a period of refinement, as this, existed 
amongst the Caledonians, previously to that 
barbarism, into which they have been found, 
a few centuries afterwards, to have sunk. 
This argument is detailed, in the first vo- 
lume of his History of Scotland, (p. 44.) and, 
in the opening of his Dissertation, it is pro- 
nounced by him to be unanswerable. 

But, I may be permitted to ask, whether 
the history of nations is not full of similar 
instances of change in the condition of so- 
ciety ? Let us look back, for a moment, to 
ancient Egypt, the cradle of the sciences ; 
and the stupendous monuments of whose 
progress in philosophy, and in the arts, have 
bid defiance to the depredations of time, 
and of the elements. Do we not there be- 
hold a people passing from the height of re- 
finement to the most sordid ignorance, and 
to the lowest degrees of barbarism ? From 
Egypt, let us turn our eyes to Greece, the 



38 ON THE AUTHENTICITY 

favourite seat of the Muses, the country of 
Hesiod, of Homer, and of Sappho. We see 
the modern Greeks the prey of Turkish 
insolence, and of the most abject igno- 
rance. 

It is true, that none of those disastrous 
reverses have been brought about without a 
cause that can be easily assigned. Egypt 
and Greece have been desolated by foreign 
invasion; and, though Caledonia has re- 
mained at all times inviolated by a foreign 
foe, may not her relapse into barbarism be 
sufficiently accounted for, by the destruc- 
tion of that order of philosophers, which had 
formerly enlightened her, and by the extinc- 
tion of the illustrious house of Fingal, by 
which she was left a prey, for many subse- 
quent ages, to the anarchical rivalship of 
chieftains of inferior note ? 

With regard to the silence, which has 
been alleged to prevail, in these Poems, on 
the subject of religious sentiment, it is pre- 



OF OSSIAN'S POEMS. 3d 

sumed that the estimate has not been fairly 
made. There is certainly to be found, in 
Ossian, a mythology which possesses much 
interest and beauty : it is of a peculiar kind 
indeed, but sufficiently marked, and appa- 
rently very natural, for a people in the ear- 
lier stages of society to have formed. It 
appears, from innumerable passages in Os- 
sian, that it was the general opinion of his 
countrymen, that their ancestors existed in 
a disembodied state ; that they dwelt in the 
airy halls of the clouds; that they continued 
still to interest themselves in the conduct 
and fortunes of their offspring; that they 
possessed a prescience of future events, of 
which they sometimes gave intimations to 
their living relatives ; and, finally, that they 
possessed certain influences over the ele- 
ments, as well as over the affairs of mortals. 
I am obligingly permitted, by my respected 
friend, Professor Richardson, of Glasgow 
college, to subjoin an elegant and philoso- 



40 ON THE AUTHENTICITY 

phical deduction of the Ossianic mythology, 
which was written by him, at an early period, 
after the first publication of Mr Macpher- 
son's translations.* 

It is certain, that a sense of religion, and 
a reverence for superior powers, who are 
supposed to influence the fortunes and hap- 
piness of men, is natural to the human mind, 
and has been found, in some degree, and 
under various modifications, to prevail in 
every state of human society. In some na- 
tions, the influence of this principle has 
been greater, and in others less. Amongst 
the Celts, it appears, from the passages cited 
from Aristotle and from Arrian, that the re- 
verence entertained for superior powers was 
slight; and we are furnished by travellers 
with similar traits of nations placed in simi- 
lar circumstances of society. Mr Weld, in 
his Travels in North America, f tells us, 

* See Appendix, No. II. 

t Weld's Travels, vol. ii. p. 2S6. 



OF OSSIAN'S POEMS. 41 

" that some tribes of the Indians have more 
" devotion than others ; and that the Shaw- 
" anese, in particular, have little fear of evil 
" spirits." Mr Barrow, in his Travels in 
South Africa, furnishes us with various in- 
stances of similar sentiment. 

Still, however, it might have been expect- 
ed, that, amongst the Caledonians, accus- 
tomed for so many ages to the Druidical in- 
stitutions, in which superstitious obser- 
vances, and sacrifices to the gods, bore so 
conspicuous a part, many traces of the an- 
cient and national religion might be met 
with, even in the days of Ossian. That 
we have, in these Poems, abundant allusions 
to the peculiar mythology of the Caledo- 
nians, has been already remarked. And, 
with regard to the total silence which pre- 
vails, in these Poems, concerning the higher 
mysteries of the Druids, it would seem, that 
it is a circumstance which might have been 
expected, and which may be easily explained. 



42 ON THE AUTHENTICITY 

We are informed, by the most respectable 
writers of antiquity, that the Celtic hier- 
archy was divided into several classes, to 
each of which its own particular department 
was assigned.* The Druids, by the consent 
of all, constituted the highest class; the 
Bards seem to have been the next in rank ; 
and the Eubages the lowest. Without en- 
tering, at present, into any discussion con- 
cerning the particular departments of those 
several classes, it is sufficient to remark, 
that, according to Ammianus, the higher 
mysteries of religion, and probably, also, the 
science of the occult powers of nature, 
which they had discovered, constituted the 
department of the Druids. To the Bards, 
again, it is allowed by all, were committed 
the celebration of the heroic atchievements 



* Strabo, lib. 4. Ammianus Marcellinus, lib. 15. 
The former distinguishes these orders by the titles of 
" Bards, Vates, and Druids ;" the latter, by those of 
* Druids, Bards, and Eubages." 



OF OSSIAN'S POEMS. 43 

of their warriors, and the public record of 
the history of the nation. 

But we know, that in every polity, which 
depends upon mystery, as that of the Druids 
undoubtedly did, the inferior orders are se- 
dulously prevented from encroaching upon 
the pale of those immediately above them, 
by the mysteries which constitute their pe- 
culiar badge. To be admitted to these, a 
certain period of probation, and specific 
forms of initiation, are indispensibly requi- 
site. Ca3sar expressly informs us, that the 
Druids excluded the lower orders from the 
knowledge of their institutions ; and we can 
have no doubt, that their own disciples had 
those mysteries communicated to them only 
according to the rank which they had at- 
tained, and the degree to which they had 
been admitted. 

The Druids, as has been said, possessed, 
exclusively, the higher mysteries of religion. 
The Bards, the order next in dignity, had a 



44 ON THE AUTHENTICITY 

different department assigned to them. Is 
it not probable, then, that the latter were 
expressly prohibited from encroaching upon 
the province of their superiors, by inter- 
mingling religion, if they had any know- 
ledge of its mysteries, which it is likely they 
had not, with the secular subjects of their 
song ? 

Thus, then, we seem warranted to con- 
clude upon this subject : — By the time that 
Ossian flourished, the higher order of this 
hierarchy had been destroyed; and, in all 
probability, the peculiar mysteries which 
they taught had perished along with them : 
and, even if any traces of them remained, 
such is the force of habit, and the venera- 
tion which men entertain for the institutions 
in which they have been educated, that it is 
no wonder that the bards religiously forbore 
to tread on ground, from which they had, 
at all times, by the most awful sanctions, 
been excluded. 



OF OSSIAN'S POEMS. 45 

In this view of the subject, it would seem, 
that the silence which prevails in these Poems, 
with regard to the higher mysteries of religi- 
on, instead of furnishing an argument against 
their authenticity, affords a strong presump- 
tion of their having been composed at the 
very time, in the very circumstances, and by 
the very persons to whom they have been 
attributed. Indeed, had there been any ac- 
count given, in these Poems, of the secret 
rites, and horrid immolations, of the Belt em 
and of the Sarnhin* there might have been 
some ground to question their authentici- 
ty ; and to have ascribed them to a modern, 
who, though versed in these still prevalent 

* The Beltein is " the fire of Belis, or the Sun," 
kindled on the first of May, and still retained as the 
name of that season. The Samhin is " the Fire of 
" Peace," still celebrated in the Highlands, and other 
parts of Scotland, on Hallow-eve, by kindling fires on 
the tops of hills, and by many other superstitious rites, 
which are evidently to be considered as reliques of 
Druidism. — See Appendix. 



46 ON THE AUTHENTICITY 

superstitions, had not judgment to discern 
the line by which the sacred ceremonies of 
the Druids were separated and concealed 
from vulgar observation. 

Mr Laing remarks, # " that, from the ge- 
" nuine Ossian, we should obtain, if not an 
" accurate delineation of the characters of 
" his contemporaries, at least some insight 
" into the domestic manners and occupa- 
" tions of the early Caledonians ; but here," 
says he, " we have only the ideal manners 
" of romance, the insipid outlines of perfect 
" sentimental heroes." 

It is foreign, as I have observed before, 
from my purpose, to offer any thing con- 
cerning the merit or demerit of these com- 
positions. They are before the public ; and 
the public appreciation of their value will 
not probably be much affected by Mr Laing's 
opinion or mine. Dr Blair pronounces Os- 

* Dissertation, p. 398. 



OF OSSIAN'S POEMS. 47 

Btan superior to Virgil, — whose heroes, it 
must be allowed, are insipid enough, — in the 
delineation of character. In the characters 
ofCuchullin, of Connal, and ofCalmar, ana 
especially in those ot' Fingal, Calhmor, Cair- 
bar, and Connan, one should think that the 
traits are drawn with a distinctness as well 
as boldness of pencil, sufficient to satisfy the 

most fastidious critic. 

With regard to the inferiority of Ossian 

to Homer, in the delineation of domestic 
manners and arts, whilst I join most readily 
in yielding- the palm to the great Father of 
Poetry, I may he permitted to remark, that 
the object of Homers poetry was very dif- 
ferent from that of the Caledonian bard* 
Homer lived more than a century and a half 
after the events which he celebrates. 'His 
object, both in the Iliad and the Odyssey, 
was to compose a work addressed to the ima- 
gination. In the former, adopting the basis 
of his facts from a history, which was repu- 



48 ON THE AUTHENTICITY 

ted real, he embellishes these facts by every 
species of fiction, and hesitates not to call 
in to his aid every sort of supernatural ma- 
chinery. In the Odyssey, again, he makes 
the supposed wanderings of his hero the 
vehicle for a surprising tissue of adventures, 
and for a pleasing description of the man- 
ners and customs of various nations. In a 
plan like this, there was ample room for 
every species of embellishment, and the in- 
troduction of every image, that is calculated 
to please, might justly be expected. 

But the object of the Celtic bard, upon 
the other hand, was to relate, in verse in- 
deed, or in a measured diction, for the ease 
of the memory, subjects of true history. He 
was limited, by his office, to the celebration of 
illustrious events, and the transactions of il- 
lustrious persons, chiefly his own contempo- 
raries ; but, to the detail of domestic events 
and characters, he could as seldom descend 
as Thucydides or Livy. He was not preclu^ 



OF OSSIANS POEMS. 49 

ded, indeed, from the graces of poetry, but 
these must be employed only to adorn real 
events and characters, or to embellish the 
descriptions of external nature. Fictitious 
circumstances were altogether denied to him. 
The bard was, in fact, more properly a his- 
torian than a poet. The occurrences of or- 
dinary life, however well adapted to certain 
kinds of poetical composition, belonged not 
to his department. 

Still, however, it may be remarked, that 
these Poems occasionally furnish many in- 
teresting views of the manners and mode of 
living which prevailed in that period of so- 
ciety, to which they relate. It would be 
amusing, and perhaps instructive, to collect 
those scattered traits, and to form from them 
a more precise picture of the state of so- 
ciety, in those ages, than has hitherto been 
exhibited. This, however, cannot be advan- 
tageously done till the whole of the originals 
are before the public. The translations, even 
p 



50 ON THE AUTHENTICITY 

of Mr Macpherson, as shall be shewn, arc 
not to be relied on. 

Under the head of " Manners and Cus- 
toms," Mr Laing (with what propriety is 
not very obvious) urges some strange topics 
of detection, which it will not be difficult to 
refute. 

He remarks, that the aspin, or trembling 
poplar, the crithean, or cran na critk, of 
the Celts, so often mentioned in these Poems, 
is a foreign tree, and not a native of Scot- 
land. Here it appears, that the learned 
gentleman has chosen to occupy ground to 
which he is a stranger. It is a point suffi- 
ciently established amongst naturalists, that 
the popiilus tremida, or aspin, is indigenous 
to Scotland ; I can point it out, in the ut- 
most profusion, in the Highlands, growing 
on the margin of lakes, and in the crevices 
of rocks. Were it worth while, on a point 
so undeniable, I could cite the authority of 
one of the first names in natural history, to 



OF OSSIAN'S POEMS, 5l 

whom I shewed it last season, growing in 
abundance on the shores of Loch-Ketturin, 
in Perthshire. 

With equal gratuitousness, the yew-tree, 
the iubhar, or iuar of the Highlanders, is as- 
serted to be " certainly not indigenous." 
But it is certain, I must affirm, that the yew- 
tree has always been, and still is, a native of 
Scotland. Lightfoot, in his Flora Scotica, 
holds it to be such, on the authority of Dr 
Stuart of Luss, the first name, at this day, 
in the science of the plants of his native 
Highlands. There are innumerable places 
in Scotland, which still have their denomi- 
nation from this tree, according to the ordi- 
nary use of giving names to places, from the 
species of trees with which they chiefly 
abound; — thus, Glen-iuir, " the Glen of 
" Yews;" Dunure, or Dun-mh\ " the Hill 
" of Yews," &c. Giraldus Cambrensis # in- 

* Giraldus, Topographia Hibernian pars i. c. 5. 



52 ON THE AUTHENTICITY 

forms us, that the yew-tree grew in such 
abundance in Ireland, that the scarcity of 
bees, in that country, is, in part, to be ascri- 
bed to this cause. But, if it abounded in 
Ireland, how can it be denied to Scotland, 
so nearly of the same soil and climate ? Not- 
withstanding the general attempts to extir- 
pate it, on account of its noxious qualities, 
it still grows in some parts of Scotland. 

Of the legitimacy of Mr Laing's argu- 
ment, drawn from the silence of Ossian 
concerning certain productions and animals 
which must have existed in Scotland, in his 
days, I entertain considerable doubt. The 
mention of the wild boar, it is observed, oc- 
curs only once in Macpherson's translation. 
But what, I would ask, can be inferred from 
this circumstance? Might not the authenti- 
city of the poems ascribed to Virgil be ques- 
tioned, on the same ground, who, though 
his ten Eclogues relate exclusively to shep- 
herds and flocks, and his Georgics to pasto- 



OF OSSIAN'S POEMS. 53 

ral and agricultural economy, makes men- 
tion of the fox only once, in the whole com- 
pass of his poems ? f In the Seandana, a 
collection of Gaelic poems published by Dr 
Smith, which, notwithstanding many in- 
equalities, and innumerable interpolations, 
contains much poetry, which is undoubtedly 
ancient, and of very high merit, we meet 
with frequent mention of the wolf:f and 
the whole of the poem of Diarmid, in that 
collection, relates to the hunting of the wild 
boar. 

As to the charge of the absence of all sort 
of allusion to frost in these Poems, without 
taking advantage of the observation of Ta- 
citus, concerning the mildness of the cli- 
mate, % I must say, that it is totally unfound- 

* Virg. Eel. iii. v. 91. 

f See Finnan and Lorma, and Conn, p. 252. It is 
singular, that Dr Smith apologizes (Gaelic Antiq. 
p. 210.) for the omission of all mention of the wolf, 
though it occurs in the poems given by himself. 

% Tac. Agr. c. 12. « Asperitas frigorum abest" 



54 ON THE AUTHENTICITY 

ed. The opening of the eighth book of Te- 
mora furnishes a magnificent image, derived 
from frost ; and, in Dr Smith's Collection, 
we have innumerable allusions to the same 
object, though, even in his own translation, 
these are sometimes, according to his usual 
manner, mutilated and lost.* The singular 
circumstances, in which we are placed, with 
respect to the originals of Macpherson's 
Collection, render it impossible, at present, 

* See Seandana, pages 73. 82. 84. 103, &c. It is, 
indeed, very singular, that, exclusive of the simile de- 
rived from frost, in the eighth book of Temora, now al- 
luded to, the learned gentleman himself, in the course 
of his Dissertation, has cited two other passages, alluding 
to the same phenomenon. The one is, Ossian's com- 
parison of Svvaran " to a rock of ice." The other is his 
comparison of the heroes, upon a certain occasion, to 
rt oaks with all their branches round them, when they 
" echo to the stream of frost." All this shews a very 
strange inaccuracy of criticism. That Mr Laing should 
assert, that only " a single image, in Fingal, is derived 
" from frost," whilst he himself has furnished two, may 
serve to shew what we are to expect in the sequel of his 
detections. 



OF OSSIAN'S POEMS. 55 

to ascertain precisely what images and allu- 
sions they contain, and what are wanting in 
them. Till the originals are brought forward, 
we must trust to the skill or integrity of the 
translators. 



&> ON THE AUTHENTICITY 



SECTION III. 

Of the Mode in which these Poems have been preser- 
ved, and transmitted to us, through so many Ages. 

1 hat such a mass of poetry, as has been 
presented to the public by Mr Macpherson, 
together with what may be reckoned ancient 
and genuine, in Dr Smith's collection, should 
have been preserved amongst a rude people, 
and transmitted by oral tradition, through a 
period of more than fifteen centuries, with any 
degree of purity, is, it must be acknowledg- 
ed, a phenomenon, of which we have no ex- 
ample in the history of literature. It can be 
accounted for only, by remarking, that we 
have no example, in the history of Europe, 
of a people placed in similar circumstances, 



OF OSSIAN'S POEMS. 57 

and possessed of institutions similar to those 
of the Caledonians. 

To elucidate this subject, it is necessary 
to advert to two distinguishing circum- 
stances, which mark the situation of the Ca- 
ledonians, during the period that elapsed, 
from the time in which these Poems were 
composed, till that in which they were col- 
lected and translated by Mr Macpherson : — 
The first is, That they remained, during that 
period, unconquered, and consequently un- 
mixed with any other people : — the other is, 
That, in consequence of this permanency of 
political situation, their language remained 
unaltered and unmixed with any foreign 
idiom. Let us attend to these two circum? 
stance's separately. 



58 ON THE AUTHENTICITY 



PART I. 

The political Situation of Caledonia, during the last 
fifteen Centuries, — The Dominion and Influence 
of the Celts, — The supposed Invasion qfRiada, — 
The Bardic Order, — Transmission of the Poetry 
of Homer, — Recitations of ancient Gaelic Poetry, 
by Persons still, or very lately, alive. 

It has been the opinion of the most cele- 
brated writers, on historical antiquities, that 
a race of men, of the same stock, and 
speaking the same language, originally occu- 
pied Spain, Gaul, the British isles, and even 
Illyricum, and a part of Germany.* This 
people are denominated Celts by the Greek 
and Roman writers, and the language which 

* Chiverius, Introduct. Geograph. Edit. Lond. 1711. 
pages 52. 76. 123. 234. 



OF OSSIAN'S POEMS. 59 

they spoke, the Celtic. This common origin 
and common language may still be traced, 
especially in Spain, Gaul, and Britain, in the 
names of tribes, provinces, cities, mountains, 
and rivers, which are undeniably of Celtic 
orio-in. 

It appears, from Pliny, Tacitus, and other 
writers of antiquity, that there existed, at 
the same time, in the north of Europe, a 
numerous and warlike race of men, called 
Teutones and Gothones, who are represented 
as having a different origin, and speaking a 
different language, from the Celts. It ap- 
pears from the testimony of Cassar, that, 
even in his time, this last race of people 
were continually advancing to the westward, 
and encroaching on the territories of the 
Celts. The Belg£e, one of their most power- 
ful tribes, had crossed the Rhine, and, even 
then, occupied a part of Gaul. Tacitus re- 
cords the opinion, that this race had passed 



CO ON THE AUTHENTICITY 

over, at an early period, into Britain, and 
occupied the eastern parts of this island; and 
Caesar appears to have entertained the same 
belief. 

By the inundations of these northern 
tribes, the Celtic nations, the original occu- 
piers of western Europe, were gradually 
compelled to retire towards the shores of the 
Atlantic : and we see, at this moment, the 
whole remains, of that once powerful race, 
cooped up in a few narrow districts of wes- 
tern Europe, which, either from their natural 
poverty, or inaccessibility, escaped the rava- 
ges of the conquerors. In Wales, in the 
Isle of Man, in the Highlands of Scotland, 
in some parts of Ireland, and in Lower Brit- 
tany, in France, are now to be found the 
only remains of Celtic blood, and language, 
and manners. 

Without engaging in an elaborate discus- 
sion, concerning the history of the Celts, it 



OF OSSIAN'S POEMS, 61 

will probably be admitted, that, of the above 
districts, the Highlands of Scotland have 
enjoyed, in every period, an exemption from 
foreign conquest and intermixture, and have 
consequently retained the Celtic character 
without deterioration. This is, indeed, ad- 
mitted, by Mr Laing.* It must be acknow- 
ledged to be a singular instance, in the his- 
tory of Europe, that a people should remain, 
during so many ages, unshaken and undis- 
turbed by foreign invasion ; — and that they 
should have preserved, to this day, the lan- 
guage and manners of their forefathers, with 
little variation, is a phenomenon, in the his- 
tory of the human race, which promises to 
afford an interesting subject of speculation to 
philosophic minds. 

That the Highlands of Scotland, however, 
have remained, at all times, entirely exempt 
from foreign invasion and intermixture, must 

* Hist, of Scotland, vol. i. p. 45. 



62 ON THE AUTHENTICITY 

be understood with a few slight limitations. 
The Romans, we know, penetrated, under 
Agricola, beyond the Tay. During their 
stay in Britain, their intercourse with the 
Highlanders, whether of a friendly or hostile 
nature, must have been not infrequent ; and 
this must have produced some influence, at 
least, on the language and habits of the ad- 
jacent tribes. The Danes, too, during the 
subsequent ages, frequently invaded the west- 
ern and northern parts of Scotland, and some- 
times even formed temporary settlements. 
To them, no doubt, many names and terms 
of Teutonic origin may be traced ; some of 
these are actually found to exist, and just 
where they might have been naturally ex- 
pected, in the western Isles, and in the north 
of Scotland. 

There is one part of Mr Laing's argument, 
on this subject, which demands more parti- 
cular attention. He asserts, " that there is 
" not now, in Scotland, a Highlander of the 



OF OSSIAN'S POEMS. 63 

u race that existed at the beginning of the 
" XT2L ascribed to Fingal." # 

Being now here, as we are at this day, it 
Is of very little importance to determine 
from what stock we had our origin ; but it 
is of most essential consequence to the faith 
of evidence, and to the truth of history, to 
examine the ground, on which Mr Laing 
has advanced such an unwarranted posi- 
tion. He states, on the authority of Bssda, 
that, in A. D. 258, Scotland was invaded by 
Riada, an Irish chieftain ; and that a king- 
dom was founded by him, in the Highlands, 
called, after his name, the Dalriadan king- 
dom ; and hence he concludes, that all the 
present inhabitants are of the race of the in- 
vaders. 

We have Beeda before us; and, without 
any pretension to antiquarian lore, I shall 
only beg leave to state plainly all that he 

* Page 378. note. 



64 ON THE AUTHENTICITY 

advances on this subject, leaving it to the 
reader to judge concerning the foundation 
of Mr Laing's position. 

I would remark, then, that all that relates 
to the invasion of Scotland, by Riada, is to 
be found in a single sentence in the first 
chapter of Bseda's Ecclesiastical History of 
England, of which I shall now give an ac- 
count.* After narrating, what is very im- 
portant to our present purpose, and which 
shall afterwards be adduced, " that the 
" Brittones, from Aremorican Gaul, first oc- 
" cupied the southern parts of Britain, to 
" which," he adds, " they gave their name," 
he informs us, " that a race of Picts, of 
" Scythian origin, in attempting to reach 
" Britain, were driven, by the force of wea- 
" ther, into the north of Ireland ; that the 
u Scotti,-\ then inhabiting that part of Ire- 

* I use the edition of Baeda published at Cambridge, 
in 1722, cum notis Jocmnis Smith, S. T. P. 

t With regard to the name Scotti, which appears to 



OF OSSIAN'S POEMS. 65 

"land, refused them admission; but gave 
" them this salutary advice : — c We know/ 
" said they, ' an island, at no great distance, 
" towards the east; there you may find set- 
" tlements, and, if you are opposed, we shall 
" assist you." 

In the paragraph which immediately fol- 
lows, we have the sentence which appears to 
be the sole foundation of the alleged inva- 
sion of Riada ; the Dalriadan kingdom ; and 
the Irish origin of all the present inhabitants 



have been given by early writers, as well to the inhabit- 
ants of Ireland as to those of Scotland, with whom it has 
become permanent; the learned Joseph Scaliger, in his notes 
on the Chronicon of Eusebius, (p. 175.) has well observed, 
" that it is not properly a name, but an appellation, de- 
" scriptive of the wandering and predatory manner of life 
" which characterised those tribes, who, by their incur- 
" sions, infested the Roman province in Britain. They 
" were called Scotti" he observes, "just as the Arabs 
" were called Bedouins, or Saracens." It may be proper 
to add, that the names Scots and Scotland are totally un- 
known, at this day, to the Highlanders. They call 
themselves Albanich, and their country Albin. 



66 ON THE AUTHENTICITY 

of the Highlands of Scotland. Will my read- 
ers forgive me, for presenting it in Basda's 
original, with a translation, of which they 
may all judge? Without any reference to 
the year 258, or any other year, Bseda says, — 
" Procedente autem tempore, Britannia, post 
" Prittones et Pictos tertiam Scottorum na- 
" tionem, in Pictorum parte recepit, qui duce 
" Reuda, de Hibernia progressi, vel amicitia, 
" velferro, sibimet, inter eos, sedes quas hac~ 
" tenus habsnt, vindicarunt ; a quo videlicet 
" duce, usque hodie Dalreudini vocantur, nam 
11 eorum lingua Daal partem significat ;" — 
that is, 

" In process of time, Britain received, 
" after the Brittones and Picts, a third na- 
" tion of Scotti, in the district of the Picts, 
" who, leaving Ireland, under the conduct 
" of Reuda, obtained, for themselves, the 
" settlements amongst them which they now 
" possess ; from which leader, they are, at 



OF OSSIAN'S POEMS. 67 

" this day, called Dalreudini; for, in their 
" language, Daal signifies a part." # 

It appears, upon the whole, that it was 
the opinion of Baeda, that Britain was origi- 
nally peopled, by the south, from Aremori- 
can Gaul, a district which, by the testimony 
of Pliny and Claudian, was undoubtedly 
Celtic ; and the very name of which, father 
Harduin, in his Annotations on Pliny, ac- 
knowledges to be of Celtic derivation.^ 

Besides this opinion of Baeda, with regard 
to the original population of the south of 
Britain, it is worth notice, that he states the 
Picts, a Scythian race, to have taken pos- 
session of the northern parts of the island, — 
undoubtedly the north-east coasts of Scot- 
land, — where, at this day, we find reliques 

* The venerable author is wrong; daal signifies a 
field. 

t " Armorica" says he, " quasi ar-mor, i. e. " on the 
" sea." 



68 ON THE AUTHENTICITY 

of the Pictish language, monuments, and 
history. 

Finally, with regard to his mention of the 
invasion of Reuda, it is evident, that it 
amounts, by no means, to a conquest of the 
Highlands of Scotland, and far less to the 
establishment of a Dalriadan kingdom. In- 
deed, Baeda is, even in what he advances 
here, totally unsupported by nearly contem- 
porary writers, such as Jocelinus, Giraldus 
Cambrensis, and others, who, surely, in nar- 
rating the events of those times, would not 
have omitted such a remarkable occurrence. 
The whole business appears to be a gratui- 
tous fiction of Pinkerton; and, from him, 
hastily adopted by Mr Laing, without exa- 
mination or doubt. 

The utter improbability of this fiction 
will appear still more evident, when we con- 
sider, that the Caledonians, as Tacitus in- 
forms us, brought more than thirty thou- 
sand warriors into the field, near two cen- 



OF OSSIAN'S POEMS. 69 

turies before the alleged expedition of Riada; 
a high degree of population, surely, at such 
a period, and in such a state of society. Is 
it to be supposed, that this numerous and 
warlike people, who had so often disputed 
the palm of victory with " the sovereigns 
" of the world," would allow themselves to 
be over-run, and dispossessed of their terri- 
tories, by the comparatively small and ill-ac- 
coutered horde, which could, at this period, 
be thrown in from the adjacent coast of Ire- 
land ? Within a century and a half before, 
Tacitus informs us, that an Irish chieftain, 
who had accompanied his father-in-law to 
Rome, and with whom he himself had fre- 
quently conversed, assured him, " that, at 
" that period, a single Roman legion, with 
" a few auxiliaries, would have been suffi- 
" cient for the reduction of the whole island."* 

* Tac. Agric. c. 24. 



70 ON THE AUTHENTICITY 

Is this the nation that, in 258, could, with 
the imperfect means of those times for 
transporting troops by sea, send an army to 
Scotland sufficient to sweep off its aborigi- 
nal inhabitants with such complete extermi- 
nation ? 

The truth, on this part of the subject, 
seems to be, that Ireland derived its origin- 
al population from Scotland. This was the 
opinion of Sir James Ware ; # of Sir William 
Temple; of Sir William Petty ;f and of the 
best informed writers of both countries. In- 
deed, it is the opinion of Sir James Ware, 
that nothing certain is known of Irish af- 
fairs, till the middle of the fifth century. 
To these, we may add the opinion of Mr 
Gibbon, who was abundantly acute in his 
investigations; and, surely, in no degree 
prejudiced in favour of Caledonian antiqui- 

* Antiq. Hib. ch. 2. 
t Polit. Anat. p. 101. 



OF OSSIAN'S POEMS, 71 

ties : — " It is probable," says be, " that, in 
" some remote period of antiquity, the fer- 
" tile plains of Ulster received a colony of 
" hungry Scots ; and that the strangers of 
" the north, who had dared to encounter the 
" armies of the legion, spread their con- 
" quests over the savage and uncivilized na- 
" tives of a solitary island." 

Thus, then, it appears, that no historical 
evidence has yet been adduced to shew, that 
this narrow corner of Celtic Europe, the 
Highlands of Scotland, has been conquered 
by any foreign power, or that its inhabitants 
have been, for the last 1500 years, at least, 
placed in circumstances that could tend to 
obliterate their language, their manners, or 
their institutions. It is true, this district 
has, in consequence of the abolition of the 
Druidical order, been long deprived of the 
lights of philosophy, which had, in former 
times, rendered Britain illustrious, and made 
her the resort of the learned ; and the con- 



72 ON THE AUTHENTICITY 

sequence has been a long night of barbarism 
and ignorance. 

It is to be remarked, however, that amidst 
all this barbarism, which overwhelmed the 
last fifteen centuries, the establishment of the 
Bards was preserved inviolate, and was actu- 
ally continued in Scotland, as can be suffi- 
ciently proved, till within less than one hun- 
dred years; and, if the Bards, when deprived 
of their masters, the Druids, were incapable 
of adding any thing to the treasures be- 
queathed to them by better times, they seem 
to have proved faithful depositories, at least, 
of the stock that had been committed to 
their care. 

The Bardic order is attributed, by all the 
ancient writers, to the Celtic nations; and 
it is extended by Tacitus, # under the same 
appellation, to the Germans. Posidonius 
tells us, " that, when the Celts go to war, 

* De Moribus Germ. c. 3. 



OF OSSIAN'S POEMS. 73 

" they take with them associates, whom/ 
says he, " they call Parasites, who sing 
" their praises, either in public assemblies, 
" or to those who wish to hear them pri- 
" vately. These poets," he adds, " are call- 
ed £<zhfc."* 

We know, from unquestionable authority, 
that the order of Bards was continued in 
Wales, till towards the end of the thirteenth 
century, when they were destroyed by the 
cruel policy of Edward I. But it must be 
remarked, that the Bards were not entirely 
extinct, in England, before the reign of 
Queen Elizabeth ; till which period, there 
was a regular public competition of harpers 
maintained ; and there is, at this day, as Mr 
Pennant informs us, in his Tour through 
Wales, a silver harp, awarded during that 
period, in the possession of the Mostyn fa- 
mily. 

* Cited by Athenaeus, fol. ed. p. 246. 



W ON THE AUTHENTICITY 

In Scotland, it is well known, that the 
Bardic order was preserved, in uninterrupted 
succession, till A. D. 1/26, when Nial Mac- 
vurich, the last of the Bards, died, whose 
ancestors had, for several generations, exer- 
cised that office in the Clanranald family. 
In the Appendix to Mr Mackenzie's Report, 
we have the very interesting declaration of 
Lachlan Macvurich, the son of this Nial, in 
which he gives an account of the manner in 
which his father's manuscripts were disper- 
sed and lost ; and, particularly, of one large 
volume, which his father, by order of Clan- 
ranald, gave to James Macpherson, from 
Badenoch, (the translator of Ossian.) This 
declaration of Lachlan Macvurich, I, too, 
received, some years ago, by the obliging at- 
tention of Sir John Macgregor Murray of 
Lanrick, Baronet, in the original, with a 
translation by himself; but, as it has been 
already published in the Report, it is consi- 
dered as unnecessary to repeat it. 



OF OSSIAN'S POEMS. 75 

Indeed, it is well known, that every great 
family, in the Highlands, had a Bard attach- 
ed to it, whose office it was, not only to 
preserve the genealogy, and to record the 
atchievements of the family, but also to re- 
tain, by memory, like the disciples of the 
Druids of old, a vast number of verses, 
which they recited, at the entertainment, to 
amuse the chieftain and his friends. Martin, 
in his British Isles, speaking of the JEbudes, 
seems, in this view, to give the true idea of 
the relation which the Bards bore to the an- 
cient Druids : — " The orators," says he, (i, e. 
the Bards,) " after the Druids were extinct, 
" were brought to preserve the knowledge 
" of families," fee- 
That the art of writing was, at the same 
time, preserved and practised, at an early 
period, in Scotland, has been undeniably pro- 
ved, by the existence of ancient manuscripts, 
of which the late learned Dr Donald Smith 
has given a very interesting account in the 



?6 ON THE AUTHENTICITY 

Appendix to the Committee's Report. One 
of these, the beautiful Gaelic manuscript, 
written, as it appears, by a monk of the 
eighth century, I have seen; and also a vo- 
lume of poems belonging to the Highland 
Society of London, and written in the period 
of James IV. of Scotland. Of the poems, 
contained in the latter, some are entitled in 
Latin, " Auctor hnjus Ossian ;" and others 
in Gaelic, " Udair sho Ossian ;" " Udair sho 
" Ullin" It is important to observe, that 
this ancient manuscript collection contains 
the episode of " the Maid of Cracca," intro- 
duced by Macpherson into the third book of 
Fin gal, and still repeated, by many, in the 
Highlands of Scotland.* It is given, by Mr 
Mackenzie, in the Report of the Committee, 
■p. 95. 



* I had an opportunity of hearing this poem recited, 
in 1782, by an old Highlander, still, I believe, alive, 
with little variation. I shall afterwards give an account 
of it. 



OF OSSIAN'S POEMS. 7T 

In arguing the improbability that such a 
body of poetry could have been handed 
down, by tradition, through so many ages, 
Mr Laing observes, " that three-fourths of 
" the civilized world have been employed, 
" since the sera of Fingal, in the recitation 
" of poems, neither so long nor so intricate 
" as Ossian's; and, consider," says he, " how 
u small a portion of the Psalms, or Liturgy, 
" can be preserved by memory, much less 
" transmitted by oral tradition, for a single 
" generation." 

This mode of reasoning, I confess, does 
not appear to me to be very philosophical. 
We know, that the memory, as well as the 
other powers of the understanding, is ca- 
pable of a great diversity of directions, and 
of very diversified intenseness of application. 
It is, indeed, impossible to say, to what de- 
gree of perfection the memory may be car- 
ried by exercise. The disciples of the Druids, 
during their probation of twenty years, were 



7S ON THE AUTHENTICITY 

undoubtedly accustomed to commit to me- 
mory, as many verses, at least, as are con- 
tained in the Poems of Ossian, as we now 
have them. We may, every day, meet with 
instances of the extraordinary perfection to 
which, from particular application of the 
memory, this faculty may be carried. We 
meet, for example, with persons, unskilled 
in writing, who can, by a mental process, 
carry on long calculations, which, without 
the aid of his pen, would baffle the most 
skilful arithmetician. But, as the memory, 
when thus exercised, is capable of very 
wonderful efforts, so, when freed from the 
necessity of exertion, and accustomed to re- 
ly on subsidiary aids, it becomes feeble and 
unretentive. I know a person, who has been, 
for more than twenty years, versant in the 
poetry of ancient and modern Europe, who 
cannot, at this moment, repeat twenty lines 
together of poetry, in any language what- 
ever ; and yet, such is the memory of this 



OF OSSIAN'S POEMS. 79 

person, in other respects, that he has fre- 
quently carried home, and committed to 
writing, a favourite discourse which he has 
heard, of half an hour in length, nearly 
word for word. Indeed, this is done, and 
may be done, every day. But, when a man 
has his Homer or Virgil, his Pope and Shake- 
speare, at hand, why should he exhaust the 
powers of his mind, which may be other- 
wise more advantageously employed, in com- 
mitting their verses to memory ? And who 
thinks of getting the Psalms and Liturgy by 
heart, when he has a copy of them, at every in- 
stant, within his reach? But the most effectual 
proof of the possibility of transmitting poems, 
of very considerable extent, merely by oral 
tradition, is, that we know, on the best 
grounds, that this has been actually done. 

The account, which JElian gives us, of the 
original transmission of the poetry of Ho- 
mer, is altogether to the purpose of our pre- 
sent argument : — " The ancients," he tells 



80 ON THE AUTHENTICITY 

us, " sung, or recited, the poems of Homer, 
" till they were collected by Lycurgus, in 
" his travels in Ionia, and by him carried 
" into Greece." # The poetry of Homer ap- 
pears also, from the account of iElian, to 
have been recited, originally, in detached 
pieces, (as I shall afterwards shew was the 
case of Ossian's Poems,) till about one hun- 
dred and fifty years after Lycurgus, when 
they were arranged by Pisistratus, in the 
form of the Iliad and Odyssey, under which 
they now appear. 

Thus were the poems of Homer, far more 
voluminous than those of Ossian, and, from 
the very structure of the verse, more difficult 
to be retained, transmitted by oral tradition, 
at least, till the time of Lycurgus, a period 
of about one hundred and sixty years ; and, 
if this immense mass of poetry, of which the 
Iliad and Odyssey consist, were thus hand- 

* iElian Hist. var. lib. xiii. c. 14. 



OF OSSIAN'S POEMS. 81 

ed down by memory, through so long a pe- 
riod, in a country like Asia Minor, so fre- 
quently the seat of war, and the theatre of 
foreign invasion, where is the improbability, 
that a much smaller number of verses should 
be transmitted, even through a much longer 
period, amongst a people exempted, at all 
times, from foreign invasion and intermix- 
ture ; and possessed, besides, of an order of 
men expressly trained up and appointed to 
this office ? 

On this part of the subject, it may be pro- 
per to notice, more particularly, a circum- 
stance in the manners of our forefathers, 
which is still fresh in the memory of many 
persons still alive. It is well known, that 
it was common, even within these fifty 
years, for the Highlanders, little occupied, 
in those days, in the pursuits of agriculture 
or manufactures, to assemble together, in 
each others houses, and to pass the long 
nights of winter in listening to their na- 



S£ ON THE AUTHENTICITY 

tional tales and poetry ; and, particularly, to 
the poetry ascribed to Ossian. Those per- 
sons, who could repeat much of this poetry, 
were held in high esteem ; they were wel- 
come guests in every family ; and their stay 
was solicited and prolonged by the kindest 
attentions. It is unnecessary to multiply 
proofs of what is so generally known and 
acknowledged. The Reverend Mr John 
Macleod, in his letter to Dr Blair, * says, 
" that they often laid wagers, on these oc- 
" casions, who should repeat most of these 
" poems; and to have a store of them on 
" memory was accounted no mean acquisi- 
" tion. I know," he adds, " some old men, 
" who value themselves for having gained 
" these wagers. The Highlanders," says he, 
" at their festivals, and other public meet- 
" ings, acted the Poems of Ossian." 

I shall only add, on this point, the testi- 



* Appendix to the Committee's Report, p. 28. 29. 

7 



OF OSSIAN'S POEMS. 83 

mony of Captain Parker of Blochairn, near 
Glasgow, obligingly communicated by my 
friend, Robert Austin, Esq. Lieutenant- Co- 
lonel of the first regiment of Glasgow vo- 
lunteers, which contains, besides, the impor- 
tant circumstance, that a considerable part 
of the poems, translated by Macpherson, 
were, immediately after their publication, 
collated, by him, on the other side of the 
Atlantic, with a recitation of the original, 
furnished, and translated at the moment, by 
a gentleman, whose integrity and intimate 
knowledge of the Gaelic language is beyond 
question. 

" The Reverend Mr Charles Smith, a na- 
" tive of the island of Mull," says Captain 
Parker, " was a gentleman of great respec- 
" tability, universally esteemed, and well 
" known to many gentlemen now in Glas- 
" gow, and elsewhere in this country. I 
11 became acquainted with him in 1758. 
" Our intimacy continued during all his life. 



84 ON THE AUTHENTICITY 

' I frequently visited him at his glebe, about 
c three miles from Norfolk, in Virginia, 
' upon the west branch of Elizabeth River. 
' When friends meet abroad, particularly 
' the natives of our country, the affairs of 
c Scotland, and of our friends, are a never 
' failing subject of conversation. I believe 
' my friend, Colin Rae, Esq. late of Aiken- 
1 head, sent me the first copy of Ossian's 
' Poems, collected by Mr Macpherson, which 
£ came to Virginia. I soon carried it to my 
' friend Mr Smith. Upon reading a few 
' lines from the poem of Temora,— • Stop, 
' sir,' said he,/ I know that poem.' He did 
' repeat great part of it, and explained it 
1 with an exactness, to my astonishment, 
' and scarcely credible; and so he did several 
' of the others. I left the book with him. 
1 Upon returning it, he said, ' Had he been 
1 with Mr Macpherson, he could have given 
k ' him some other (poems) of Ossian well 
' worthy of preservation; that he remem- 



OF OSSIANS POEMS. 85 

" bered them almost from infancy ; that 
" repeating them was the amusement of 
" the children and servants about his fa- 
" ther's house, and generally in all the west 
" Highlands ; that, still, walking or riding 
" alone, he pleased himself by repeating 
" them, having always considered that poetry 
" superior to all other, assuring me, that if 
" I understood the Gaelic, I would be con- 
" vinced that many beauties, in these poems, 
" could not be translated, without losing 
" greatly by the change.' Mr Smith," Cap- 
tain Parker adds, " died in 1772, or 1773, 
H I suppose about seventy years old." Cap- 
tain Parker also cites the authority of his 
friend, Mr Dugald Forbes, " now living in 
" the neighbourhood of Stirling, as recol- 
" lecting perfectly well to have heard the 
" Reverend Mr Smith, in Virginia, often 
" mention his knowledge of these Poems, 
" previous to their translation by Mr Mac- 
" pherson." 



86 ON THE AUTHENTICITY 

It is well known, however, that, within 
these last hundred years, the Highlands of 
Scotland have undergone more of political 
and domestic change, than they had done 
during the preceding fourteen centuries. 
The events that occurred in the years 1715 
and 1745, have taught government the ne~ 
cessity of introducing an uniformity of man- 
ners and of sentiments throughout the whole 
island; and very effectual measures have 
been adopted for this purpose. The esta^ 
blishment of schools, and the consequent 
diffusion of knowledge; the general intro- 
duction of the English language ; the con- 
struction of roads and bridges in the High- 
lands ; and, above all, the abolition of the 
hereditary jurisdictions in 1748, have, in 
less than half a century, very nearly assimi- 
lated the habits and manners of the High- 
landers with those of the other subjects of 
the empire. 

Though this, in a political view, was a 



OF OSSIAN'S POEMS. 87 

consummation devoutly to be wished for, 
yet it had almost proved fatal to the re- 
mains of our ancient national poetry. There 
was a peculiar felicity in the period when 
Macpherson began his collections.* Had 
this undertaking been deferred for thirty 
years longer, these Poems must have shared 
the fate of the Sibyl's volumes, and scarcely 
one-third of them would have been -found 
remaining. Notwithstanding the diligence of 
Mr Macpherson, Dr Smith, too, has been so 
fortunate as to have obtained some precious 
gleanings of Ossianic poetry, a circumstance 
which affords no slight evidence of the au- 
thenticity of the whole. Some few reliques 
of Ossianic verse are still to be met with, in 
the memory of the aged ; but, in twenty 
years hence, it is probable, that there shall 
not be a single person alive, who can recite, 

* About the year 1758. Of these collections, and the 
manner in which they appear to have been made, an ac- 
count shall be afterwards given. 



88 ON THE AUTHENTICITY 

from tradition, a single verse of our Celtic 
bard. 

In 1782, I had an opportunity of taking 
down, in writing, in the house of Professor 
Richardson of Glasgow, a Gaelic poem, of 
eighty- eight verses, from the recitation of 
Daniel Kerr, an old man, a native of Argyle- 
shire, very lately, at least, alive, and residing 
at Paisley. He said, that he had a great 
deal of Ossian's poetry (bardachd Ossein) by 
heart, which he had learned, in his native 
country, in his youth. Being desired to fix 
on any poem that he pleased, he repeated, 
in a sort of recitative cadence, the episode 
of the Maid of Craca, already mentioned as 
introduced by Macpherson into the third 
book of Fingal. Of Macpherson and his col- 
lections, Kerr had never heard. 

This same poem is published by Dr 
Smith, * and in the Perth collection by Gil- 

* Seandana, p. 175. 



OF OSSIAN'S POEMS. 89 

lies; and it occurs, also, in the manuscript 
of the period of James IV. of which an ac- 
count is given, by Dr Donald Smith, in the 
Appendix to the Committee's Report. These 
editions f differ slightly, as might have been 
expected, from that which I had from Kerr, 
by the addition, or omission, or transposi- 
tion, of a few lines ; but the poem is the 
same, and it is the same, in every material 
respect, with that which fell into the hands 
of Mr Macpherson. 

I have to add, that Kerr did not deliver 
this poem in any connection with a larger 
work, as Mr Macpherson has given it in Fin- 
gal, but as a detached independent piece. It 



t Mr Laing ridicules the term " editions," when ap- 
plied to poems which were never committed to writing, 
or to the press. But he appears to mistake the sense in 
which the term is applied. It is used, in this instance, 
to express the differences which necessarily arise, in re- 
citation, from the greater or less accuracy, or the more 
or less perfect recollection, of the persons who repeat 
them from memory. 



90 ON THE AUTHENTICITY 

was under the same form, as iElian tells us, 
that the poems of Homer were recited, and 
handed down, during more than three hun- 
dred years, when they were collected and 
arranged hy Pisistratus. It would seem, that 
Mr Macpherson, (whether properly or not 
is not now the question,) performed nearly 
the same office with respect to the Poems of 
Ossian. 

Indeed, this circumstance, together with 
another, which I am about to mention, may 
enable us to appreciate, with tolerable accu- 
racy, the share which Mr Macpherson him- 
self had in the work which he has published. 
It is well known, that, before the Highland 
reciter delivers his poem, he generally pre- 
faces it with a short summary, in a kind of 
measured prose, of the principal events con- 
tained in the verses which he is about to re- 
cite. This outline of the poem is called the 
Sgeulachdy or Tale. Dr Smith informs us, 



OF OSSIAN'S POEMS. 91 

that he was obliged, on many occasions, to 
supply chasms in the poems, which he pub- 
lished, by inserting the corresponding pas- 
sages of the Sgeulachd* 

By the help of this outline, Mr Macpher- 
son seems to have been enabled, at least to 
connect, in regular order, the several de- 
tached pieces which he found in tradition, 
according to the series of events to which 
they related; and, when a poem occur- 
red, which could not, by this method, be 
made to coalesce with his larger work, he 
seems to have proceeded by two ways: — 
he either gives the poem in its detached 
state, as he found it, and as the lesser 
poems now appear in his publication ; or he 
artfully introduces it as an episode, as he 
has done in the instance of the Maid of 
Craca, and in that of the expedition of 

* See his Seandana, pp. 86. 92, &c. 



92 ON THE AUTHENTICITY 

Larthon, in the close of the seventh book 
of Temora. 

Of such episodes, indeed, skilfully intro- 
duced, and, in general, allied to the subject 
of the work, a great portion of the Fingal 
and Temora consists.* 

Thus we may be enabled, in some measure, 
to form an estimate of the amount of Mr 
Macpherson's labours, in this respect. He 
found, it is imagined, the disjointed mem- 
bers of our poet scattered abroad in tradi- 
tion ; and, it will perhaps be allowed, that 
he has brought them together again with 
no small felicity. But, it would seem, 
that, excepting this labour of collecting, 
and arranging, and translating, Macpher- 
son has furnished nothing else, besides the 
exercise of good taste, and a sound criti- 

* Cesarotti, the Italian translator of Ossian, is of this 
opinion; and he remarks, that, in one instance, Macpher- 
son has misplaced an episode. 



OF OSSIAN'S POEMS. 93 

cal judgment, which he undoubtedly pos- 
sessed. 

Besides the poem recited by Kerr, I have 
also to mention a short poem, undoubtedly 
ancient, transmitted to me by Professor 
Richardson, who had it from Mr Samuel 
Cameron, lately a student at the University 
of Glasgow, by whom it was taken down, 
in writing, from a Highlander, who had it 
by tradition. It begins, 

" A jnhic mo mine, Ve thubhairt an righ 
" Oscair a righ nan ogfhlath" §c. 

This poem appears, also, to constitute the 
original of a passage that occurs in the third 
book of Fingal, and translated by Mr Mac- 
pherson ; * — and I mention this poem, for 
the purpose of shewing, that here he has 
shewn himself to be the mere translator, 
by the undeniable fact, that he has trans* 

* It occurs in the Perth Collection, p. 3-k 



94 ON THE AUTHENTICITY 

lated ill. The original of one passage, in 
this poem, is, 

" Chuir iad gach cath le buaidh, 

" Is bhuanich iad cliu s gach teagmhail : 

" Is mairridh an iomradh san dan, 

" Air chuimhn aig na baird an deigh sho." 

These lines, literally translated, are as fol- 
lows : 

" They fought every battle with success, 
" And won renown in every combat : 
" Their fame shall remain in the song, — 
" In the memory of the bards of after times." 

They are thus translated by Mr Macpher- 
son: — " They fought the battle in their 
" youth ; they are in the song of bards." 
It were needless, here, to point out the in- 
justice done to the original. One other in- 
stance will suffice. We have, in the original, 
these beautiful lines ; 

" Bi mar bhuinne-shruth, reothairt geamhraidh, 
" Thoirt gleachd do naimhdean na Feinne ; 



OF OSSIAN'S POEMS. 95 

" Ach mar fhann-ghaoth sheimh, thld shamhruidh, 
" Bi dhoibhsin a shireas do chobhar." 

This is, literally, 

" Be like the torrent of a winter's tide, 

" To contend with the foes of the Fingallians; 

" But, like the faint breeze of summer, soft and 

mild, 
* Be to those that seek thy aid." * 

Which Mr Macpherson translates thus : — 
" Be thou a stream of many tides, against 
" the foes of thy people; but, like the gale 
" that moves the grass, to those who ask 
" thy aid." It is evident, that, in the origi- 
nal, there is nothing of " moving the grass;'* 
and Mr Macpherson has lost the beauty 
arising from the contrast of the " winter's 
" torrent, 5 ' and the " summer's breeze." 

* In the above-cited stanzas, the reader will remark, 
in every couplet, the parallelism, or balancing, of the 
verses, which has been so well illustrated by Dr Lowth, 
in his Treatise De Poesi Hebreorum. It is probably the 
character of all early poetry. 



96 ON THE AUTHENTICITY 

In this, as in innumerable instances, 
which shall be afterwards adduced, we may 
clearly recognize the translator, and shall 
find it necessary to refer the original to ano- 
ther source. 



OF OSSIAN'S POEMS. 97 



PART II. 

The unaltered State of the Language, in which these 
Poems have been composed. — The peculiar cha- 
racter and idiomatic Form of the Gaelic. 

The languages of modern Europe, with 
which we are conversant, have been evi- 
dently formed on the model of the Latin; 
whilst this again appears to have borrowed 
its form and structure from the Greek, 
which was familiar to the poets and orators 
of Rome : and, it is even probable, that the 
Greek itself derived many of its terms and 
modes of expression from the Egyptians, 
and other Oriental nations, with whom the 
Greeks, at an early period, had frequent in- 
tercourse. We may accordingly trace, in all 
the modern languages of Europe, not only 

G 



98 ON THE AUTHENTICITY 

the terms, but also the genius, the phrases, 
and the idiom, of the Greek and Latin. 

From this circumstance, it has happened, 
that none of these modern languages, or 
even the Latin itself, has any peculiarly cha- 
racteristic idiom. The Latin is no otherwise 
distinguished from the Greek, or the modern 
languages of Europe, which are derived from 
the Latin, from one another, than by the 
words which constitute these languages, to- 
gether with the peculiar inflections of these 
words, and the particles by which they are 
connected. Hence, when we speak, or write, 
in English, for example, we adopt promis- 
cuously the idioms, the turns of expression, 
and the construction of phrases, which may 
have struck our fancies, or impressed our 
memories, in the course of our reading, in all 
the other languages with which we are ac- 
quainted. 

The modern languages of Europe, it is 
true, are not altogether destitute of some 



OF OSSIAN'S POEMS, 99 

faint shades of idiomatic expression. Thus, 
as in the Latin, grammarians have pointed 
out a few phrases, which they have termed 
Grecisms ; so, in the languages now' spoken 
in Europe, a few modes of expression may 
be traced which bear some slight marks of 
idiomatic peculiarity. Still, however, in all 
these languages, the difference of idiom is so 
small as to be scarcely perceptible; whilst 
the affinities are so numerous, that it may 
be said, that all the modern languages of 
Europe, derived from the Latin, constitute 
only one grand form of speech, varied, in- 
deed, in individual terms, and in the inflec- 
tions to which they are subjected, but pre- 
senting almost no diversity of phrase or 
idiom. 

Hence it is, that we find it an easy matter 
to transfuse any of these languages into any 
other of them, without losing the spirit or 
beauty of the original. In this transfusion, 



100 ON THE AUTHENTICITY 

no difficulty occurs, except in the very few 
idiomatic expressions which still remain. 

Hence, also, it follows, that the more ex- 
tensive our acquaintance is with the whole 
mass of writing, in all those kindred lan- 
guages, the more copious will be our power 
of expressing ourselves in our own parti- 
cular tongue. If we speak, or write, Eng- 
lish, we shall find ourselves enriched, in 
English expression, by the literary stores 
which we may have amassed, from every 
other language, whether ancient or modern, 
with which we are acquainted. Here, it is 
true, we pronounce, or write, English words; 
but the phrase and idiom, in which a person, 
who is versant in other languages, expresses 
himself, is as much Latin, or Italian, or 
French, as it is English. 

The Gaelic presents a very different ap- 
pearance, to those who are disposed to enter 
into the philosophy of language. Indeed, it 



OF OSSIAN'S POEMS. 101 

bears so little resemblance to the ancient or 
modern languages of Europe, that, to per- 
sons, to whom these only are known, it be- 
comes a matter of some difficulty to convey 
a just notion of its peculiar genius and cha- 
racter. The Gaelic is evidently an origi- 
nal language. It was carried, no doubt, by 
the Celts from their primaeval abodes, and 
underwent, probably, the same changes that 
other languages have done, during their mi- 
grations to the west of Europe, where they 
finally settled. 

But, whatever may have been the amount 
of these changes, during the progress of 
those migrations, the language of the High- 
lands of Scotland cannot have suffered much 
of material change, since the original settle- 
ment of the Celts in these regions. Except 
in their encounters with the Romans, and 
the temporary incursions of the Danes, in a 
subsequent period, they had, for a long 
series of ages, no intercourse, by conquest. 



102 ON THE AUTHENTICITY 

or by commerce, with any other country but 
Ireland, whose language was the same with 
their own. 

Hence it has happened, as might be expec- 
ted, that the Gaelic is a language altogether 
idiomatic; its turns of expression, and modes 
of phraseology, are entirely its own ; and it 
appears to have nothing, in its construction 
and character, common with the other lan- 
guages of western Europe. Hence, also, it 
is, that it is so difficult to transfuse origin- 
al compositions, in this language, into any 
other; and that the very reverse takes place, 
with regard to the attainment of the Gaelic, 
in its perfection and purity, of that which I 
have just stated, with regard to the modern 
languages of Europe. The person, who is 
found to speak the Gaelic in its greatest pu- 
rity of idiom, is the unlettered native of 
Mull, or Skye, or of the more remote corners 
of Argyle-shire, and Inverness-shire. But, 
bring this person into contact with foreign 



OF OSSIAN'S POEMS. 103 

idioms; teach him Latin, or English, or 
French, from that moment his native tongue 
becomes contaminated, by what a genuine 
Highlander would account barbarisms; he 
no longer retains the pure idiom of the Gae- 
lic, he unavoidably mixes it with the idioms 
of the foreign language which he has acqui- 
red. 

By those who are not acquainted with some 
original language unadulterated by foreign 
idioms, it will not, perhaps, be easily under- 
stood, that the purity, with which the Gaelic 
is spoken by any person, is directly as his 
want of acquaintance with every other lan- 
guage. An unlettered Highlander will feel 
and detect a violation of the idiom of his 
language more readily than his countryman, 
who has read Homer and Virgil. 

A ludicrous instance, which will serve to 
illustrate this view of the subject, is record- 
ed in the Appendix to the Committee's Re- 
port, (p. 95.) in the declaration of E wan Mac- 



104 ON THE AUTHENTICITY 

pherson, a schoolmaster of Badenoch, who 
accompanied Mr James Macpherson in his 
researches through the Hebrides, and ap- 
pears to have performed most of the drudgery 
of collecting and writing down the recita- 
tions of Gaelic poetry which they met with : — 
" On their way," says he, " to the seat of 
" the younger Clanranald, they fell in with 
" a man, whom they afterwards ascertained 
" to have been Mac Codrum, the poet. Mr 
" Macpherson asked him the question, ' Am 
" bheil dad agad air an Fhhine?' by which 
" he meant to enquire, Whether or not he 
" knew any of the Poems of Ossian, relative 
" to the Fingallians? but the terms in which 
" the question was asked, strictly import- 
" ed, ' Whether or not the Fingallians owed 
" him any thing?' and Mac Codrum, being 
" a man of humour, took advantage of the 
" incorrectness, or inelegance, of the Gaelic, 
" in which the question was put, and an- 
" swered, ' That really, if they had owed 



OF OSSIAN'S POEMS. 105 

" him any thing, the bonds and obligations 
" were now lost ; and he believed any at- 
" tempt to recover them, at that time of 
" day, would be unavailing.' Which sally 
" of Mac Codrum's wit seemed to have hurt 
" Macpherson, who cut short the conversa- 
" tion." 

Of Mr Macpherson s comparatively slight 
knowledge of the Gaelic language, other 
proofs will be brought in their proper place ; 
but even the above may lead to a suspicion, 
that, however well he could write in Eng- 
lish prose, he was unqualified to write ten 
verses of Gaelic poetry, in the style of the 
specimens furnished by himself. Indeed, 
when we speak of purity of language and 
idiom, it seems certain, that, if we could 
suppose a learned modern, placed in the Fo- 
rum of ancient Rome, to address, in Latin, 
those very audiences which had listened to 
Cicero, he could imitate the style of that 
celebrated orator, with more ease and sue- 



106 ON THE AUTHENTICITY 

cess than it is possible for a Highlander, ver- 
sed as Mr Macpherson was, in the ancient 
and modern languages of Europe, to ap- 
proach the genuine idiom of the Gaelic. Of 
this genuine idiom, we have beautiful ex- 
amples in the seventh book of Temora, pub- 
lished, at an early period, by Mr Macpher- 
son himself; and, in some of the purer 
fragments of Gaelic poetry, given by Dr 
Smith. These poems bear, throughout, the 
stamp of antiquity. Some foreign, and even 
some modern terms sometimes occur, of the 
introduction of which, I shall afterwards, as 
I hope, be able to give a satisfactory ac- 
count. But still the Gaelic idiom is main- 
tained, and the purity of its structure pre- 
served inviolate. 



OF OSSIAN'S POEMS. 10T 



SECTION IV. 

Of particular Terms and Expressions which occur in 
these Poems, and which Mr Laing argues to have 
been borrowed from other Languages. — The Opi- 
nion of Mr Pinkerton and of the Edinburgh 
Reviewers examined, with regard to the Gallic 
Invaders of the Italian Territory. — The Copious- 
ness of the Gaelic, in Expressions, to denote the 
Appearances of external Nature, and the Feel- 
ings and Passions of the human Mind. — Esti- 
mate of Mr Laing' s alleged Instances of borrowed 
Expressions, 

The language, in which any work is writ- 
ten, and the particular expressions and allu- 
sions that may occur in it, undoubtedly afford 
a very obvious criterion of the period and 
state of society to which it is to be referred. 
But, in order to be qualified to appreciate this 



108 ON THE AUTHENTICITY 

kind of evidence justly, it would seem indis- 
pensibly requisite, that the person, who ven- 
tures to offer verbal or etymological criti- 
cisms, on any work, should possess some 
knowledge of the language, in which that 
work is composed. Without this know- 
ledge, it is idle to lay down canons of criti- 
cism : however just they may be, when ab- 
stractly considered; it is only the application 
of them that can give them any value. 

Mr Laing's attempt to attain some ac- 
quaintance with the Gaelic language was 
surely laudable; but with the very imper- 
fect knowledge of it, which he had acqui- 
red, it was, at least, a hazardous attempt to 
offer a critical and etymological discussion 
of the fragments of our poetry, which had 
fallen under his eye. 

His remarks, on this part of the subject, 
however trivial and ill-founded, may have 
some weight with persons, who are still less 
qualified than himself, to judge of this mat- 



OF OSSIAN'S POEMS. iOG 

ter. Some slight notice of these, therefore, 
appears necessary. 

Without ascending, with Mr Laing, to 
the circles of Gomar, or tracing, with Giral- 
dus, the aborigines of the British isles to the 
emigrations from Egypt, or Troy ; it may be 
remarked, on the most authentic evidence 
of history, that the ancient inhabitants of 
Celtic Gaul, from whom, as is most pro- 
bable,* Britain derived its first population, 
were a powerful and numerous people, long 
before the Romans had obtained any dis- 
tinction among the nations of Europe. We 
are informed, on the unquestionable autho- 
rity of Livy, that, even in the reign of Tar- 
quinius Priscus, the Gauls crossed the Alps, 
overcame the Tuscans, built the city of Mi- 
lan, and occupied all the territory from the 
Po to the Alps. He adds, that successive 
hordes of the same people arriving from time 

* See Baeda, Hist. Eccles. Aiigl. c. 1. already cited. 



110 ON THE AUTHENTICITY 

to time, they at length extended their settle- 
ments as far as the Appenines.* 

We again find this numerous race, when 
the Roman territory had been just augment- 
ed with the accession of Veii, a city not more 
than thirty leagues distant from Rome, send- 
ing forth, from the superabundance of their 
population, an army of three hundred thou- 
sand men ; one branch of which ravaged 
Italy, and sacked Rome itself; whilst the 
other, penetrating by Illyricum, entered 
Greece, laid waste its cities, and formed a 
settlement on the banks of the Euxine.f 
We learn, from Justin, that, about that pe- 
riod, almost all Italy was occupied by the 
Gauls; J and Plutarch tells us, that the 
Celts, at an early period, possessed the best 
part of Italy. § The name of Cisalpine Gaul 

* Liv. lib. v. c. 34. 35. 

t Just. lib. xxiv. c. 4. Liv. lib. v. 

% Just. lib. xxviii. c. 2. 

§ Plut. in Mario. 



OF OSSIxiN'S POEMS. Ill 

remained to that territory, even to the la- 
test periods of the Roman empire ; and we 
have good reason to believe, that the reli- 
gion and rites of the Gauls were practised 
there, at least, as late as the siege of Aqui- 
leia.* 

With this extensive influence of the Gal- 
lic arms and name, at a period when Rome 
was yet in her infancy, and her language 
scanty and unpolished; and with the exten- 
sion of this influence, through every period 
of the empire, is it credible, that the lan- 
guage of Gaul acquired no currency in Italy, 
and even in Greece ? If, even in the time of 
Claudius, the Dmidical rites were publicly 
practised at Rome, by the numerous Gauls 
who inhabited that city, is it to be suppo- 
sed, that the language of Gaul was not also 
spoken there ? f 

* Herodian, lib. viii. c. 7. 

t Plin. Hist. Nat. lib. 30. 31. Suetonius, in Claudio, 
c. 25. ; and Aurelius Victor. 



112 ON THE AUTHENTICITY 

It seems, indeed, to be highly probable, 
that the Latin has borrowed as many terms, 
at least, from the Celtic, as the Celtic has 
from the Latin. It was the opinion of the 
learned Leibnitz, " that the Latin language 
" was formed of the Celtic and of the Greek; 
" and that its origin is best illustrated by 
" the genuine remains of the ancient Celtic, 
" such as it was spoken in the days of Julius 
" Csesar, which, he presumes, are to be stu- 
" died in the language of the Irish." # 

I am aware, that it has been maintained, 
by many learned men, that the Gauls, who 
invaded Italy, were not Celtic, but German 
Gauls. Mr Pinkerton has supported this 
opinion ; and it has been argued, with much 
acuteness and learning, by an ingenious wri- 
ter, in an early number of a literary journal, 
which does honour to Scotland.^ It is main- 
tained, " that the enumeration and descrip- 

* Cited by Dr Smith, Append. Report, p. 264. 
t Edinburgh Review, No. IV. Art. 7. 



OF OSSIANS POEMS. 113 

" tion, given by Polybius, of their difTer- 
" ent tribes, puts it beyond a doubt, that 
" they were German Gauls. He particularly 
" names," it is added, " the Veneti, Sem- 
" nones, and Boii." # 

This, I would observe, is a question of 
very considerable importance, not only with 
regard to our present enquiry; but, as the 
learned journalist very properly remarks, it 
is " intimately connected with the researches 
" and speculations of the philosopher." 

I begin by observing, that the only account 
of the boundaries and extent of Celtic Gaul, 
on which we can rely, is that of Julius Cae- 
sar. It is very singular, that Strabo, in the 
very passage in which he treats of this sub- 
ject,f whilst he professes particularly to fol- 
low Caesar's account, really advances one 
which is totally different; so that the learned 

* Edinburgh Review, No. IV. p. 366. 
f Strabo, lib, iv. ad init. 

H 



114 ON THE AUTHENTICITY 

Casaubon, in his animadversions on that pas- 
sage, remarks, " that Strabo had either not 
" read Csesar when he wrote, or that the 
" Commentaries were then different from 
" those which we have now amongst our 
" hands." Accordingly, Strabo appears to 
have committed many mistakes, in his ac- 
count of the Celtic Gauls.* 

Omitting, then, his account of the Celtic 
territory, we find its boundaries precisely de- 
fined by Caesar, f Besides informing us, that 
the Celts are the same people who are called 
Gauls by the Romans, he tells us, " that 
" the Garonne divides them from the Aqui- 
" tani, and the Marne and Seine from the 
" Belgae.'' Again, he says, " that part of 
" Gaul, which they (the Celts) possess, begins 
" with the Rhone ; (i. e. on the east ;) it is 
(( bounded by the Garonne, the ocean, and 

* Strabo assigns the institution of the Druids, which, 
by the consent of all, is Celtic, to the Belgae. 
t Caes. de Bell. Gall. lib. i. c. 1. 
1 



OF OSSIAN'S POEMS. 115 

" the territory of the Belga? ; (i. e. on the 
" west and north;) it reaches from the coun 
*' try of the Sequani and Helvetii to the 
" Rhine ; it verges northwards." By this ac- 
count of one, who will surely be considered 
as the highest authority on this subject, it 
appears, that Celtic Gaul comprehended by 
far the most extensive and the richest third 
of France ; and that it included all that ter- 
ritory which lies between the Garonne, the 
Rhone, and the Seine, from their sources to 
the sea, on the one hand ; and the Atlantic 
Ocean, and the British Channel, on the 
other. # 

The accounts of the most respectable wri- 
ters of antiquity concur in assigning great 
extent of territory and of influence to the 
Celts. Dion Cassiusf writes, " that the 
" nations on both sides of the Rhine were 
" called Celts of old, long before Cassar's 

* See the Maps of ancient Geography by Cellarius. 
t Lib. xxxix. 



116 ON THE AUTHENTICITY 

" time." Diodorus Siculus* says, " that all 
" the nations bordering on the Alps and 
" Pyrenees, as far as Scythia, were Celts;" 
and Polybius,f " that the Gauls, Germans, 
" and the greatest part of Spain, were dis- 
" tinguished by the name of Celts. " 

Adverting, then, to the position of the 
learned journalist, which he founds on the 
authority of Polybius, u that theVeneti, the 
" Semnones, and Boii, who invaded Italy, 
" under Brennus, were German tribes," I 
observe, — 

.]. With regard to the Veneti, that we 
read, in ancient authors, of two powerful 
tribes, who went under that denomination ; 
the one were theVeneti of Gaul, who occu- 
pied Brittany, in the bosom of the Celtic 
territory, and formerly called, by a Celtic 
name, Armoric Gaul. With regard to them, 



* Lib. v. c. 9. 
t Lib. iii. 



OF OSSIAN'S POEMS. Ul 

Caesar informs us, " that their authority was 
" the most extensive of all on the sea coast 
" of those regions ; that they had a numer- 
" ous navy, with which they were wont to 
" sail to Britain; that in skill and experi- 
" ence in naval affairs, they excelled all 
" others ; and that, hence, they held all, who 
" navigated those seas, as their tributaries."* 
The other tribe were the Veneti of Italy, si- 
tuated on the Adriatic. With regard to 
these, Justin says, " that they came from 
" Troy, after it was taken, under Antenor/'f 
But Strabo, with much greater probability, 
asserts, " that they were descended from the 
" Veneti of Gaul." J Thus, then, it appears 
certain, that the Veneti, who invaded Italy 
under Brennus, were not Germans ; and there 
is even a high probability, that they were 
directly from Armoric Gaul. 

* Cses. Bell. Gall. lib. iii. c. 8. 
f Just. lib. xx. c. 1. 
X Strabo, lib. iv. 



118 ON THE AUTHENTICITY 

2. With regard to the Semnones, I must 
remark, that Polybius no where mentions a 
tribe of that name, amongst the invaders of 
Italy. * Tacitus, indeed, makes mention of 
the Semnones, as a tribe of the Suevi;t but 
no author, that I know of, states them to 
have invaded Italy. The invaders of Italy, 
of whom Polybius speaks, were the Senones, , 
a people of Celtic Gaul, whose capital was 
Agendicum, now Sens; and who, after their 
invasion of Italy, settled in the fertile plains 
of Lombardy, and gave the name of Seno- 
gallia to that district.^ But the matter is 
placed beyond all question by Livy, who 
enumerates the Senones amongst those tribes 
of Celtic Gaul, (as he expressly states them,) 
who invaded Italy, in the reign of Tarquini- 

* The name does not occur, at least, in the edition 
before me, Amstelodami ap. Janssonium, 1 670. 
t Germ. c. 39. 
% Cluverii Introd. Geog. pp. 68. ISO. 18 4-. 



OF OSSIAN'S POEMS. 119 

us Priscus ; * and, it is certain, that they 
were the same tribes who, in after ages, con- 
tinued to make similar incursions. 

3. Concerning the Boii, Tacitus informs 
us, on the authority of Cassar, " that the 
" Gallic states were more powerful in for- 
" mer times; and that it is credible, that the 
" Gauls passed over into Germany : there- 
" fore," he adds, "the Helvetii occupied be- 
" tween the Hercynian forest, the Rhine, and 
" the Maine ; and the Boii, further on ; both 
" of them Gallic tribes. The name of Boi- 
" emi (Bohemians) still remains, denoting the 
" ancient memory of the place, though the 
" inhabitants are now changed."! It ap- 
pears, from another passage of the same au- 
thor, " that the Boii were expelled, from 
" their newly acquired settlements, by the 
f< Marcomanni.' 1 J But whatever may have 

* Liv. Hist. lib. v. c. 34. 
f De Mor. Germ. c. 28. 
t lb, c. 42. 



120 ON THE AUTHENTICITY 

become of those emigrants from Gaul, we 
know, that the Boii, the stock from which 
they sprung, were situated in the Celtic ter- 
ritory, on the western side of the Liger, in 
the vicinity of the iEdui, unquestionably a 
Celtic tribe. Tacitus places the Boii in this 
situation, and speaks of them expressly as 
" the neighbours of the iEdui. "* 

I have only further to remark, with re- 
gard to the inference drawn by the learned 
journalist, from the name of the leader of 
those invaders, Boiorix, that it does not ap- 
pear to be well founded : he observes, " that 
"it is evidently of Gothic structure." If 
any conclusion, however, can be drawn from 
obscure etymologies, it would seem, that 
this name bears more of Celtic than of Go- 
thic character. The Dumnorix of Caesar 
was an iEduan, a Celt, and a native of the 
bosom of Celtic Gaul. Vercingetorix, ano- 

* Tacit. Hist. lib. ii. c. 61. 



OF OSSIAN'S POEMS. 121 

ther name of similar formation, appears also 
to be Celtic, from the initial ver, or fer, " a 
" man." 

Upon the whole, then, it seems certain, 
that the Gauls, who invaded Italy, from the 
period of Tarquinius, to that of the sacking 
of Rome, were really of Celtic stock ; and, 
therefore, it might be expected, that their 
language would influence that of the Ro- 
mans, in a very material degree ; hence, it 
follows, that no legitimate argument, against 
the authenticity of Ossian's Poems, can be 
derived from the similarity that may be 
traced between certain Latin and Gaelic 
terms. 

It may be remarked, on this part of the 
subject, that no language abounds more than 
the Gaelic in expressions to denote the dif- 
ferent appearances of external nature, with 
all the varieties of which they are suscep- 
tible, in a region of such unequal surface and 



122 ON THE AUTHENTICITY 

climate as Scotland. The almost endless 
variety that occurs in the height, and struc- 
ture, and figure of mountains; in the ex- 
tent, and current, and windings of rivers 
and streams; in the form and distribution 
of woods and lakes ; and especially in the 
changes and appearances of the atmosphere, 
have, in the Gaelic, more copious and ap- 
propriate denominations than in any other 
language with which I am acquainted. 

This language also abounds in terms to 
express the feelings and passions of the hu- 
man mind, as joy, grief, melancholy, or sad- 
ness, hope, fear, anger, hatred, &c. ; and 
also to denote the ordinary circumstances 
and relations of society, and of individuals, 
as love, courtship, marriage, kindred, birth, 
death, prosperity, and adversity : for terms 
to denote these two great classes of objects, 
the Gaelic has no need to have recourse to 
any language whatever. 

The terms of art to be found in this Ian- 



GF OSSIAN'S POEMS. 123 

guage are few; but there are terms to de- 
note the few arts and instruments, which 
their circumstances rendered necessary to 
the Caledonians, and which we know them 
to have possessed; as a sword, a spear, the 
upper garment of a warrior, a smith, iron, a 
boat, sails, &c. 

But it is important to remark, that it is of 
those two classes of terms, which I have 
stated to abound in the Gaelic, almost the 
whole mass of language, in which the frag- 
ments of Ossian, which have been publish- 
ed in the original, consists. Descriptions of 
scenery, of the appearances of the atmo- 
sphere, and of the changes of the seasons; 
an account of the operation and effects of 
the feelings and passions of mankind, toge- 
ther with reflections on the ordinary cir- 
cumstances of society and of individuals, 
constitute, almost exclusively, the Poetry of 
Ossian. 

Wherever, then, any of these terms occur, 



124 ON THE AUTHENTICITY 

which appear, as in a few instances is the 
case, to bear a resemblance to corresponding 
terms in another language, there is, when 
we consider the undoubted antiquity of the 
language of Gaul, just as much reason to 
conclude, that it is originally Celtic, as that 
it is originally Latin, or Saxon. We have 
an example, in point, in the title Vergubre- 
tuSj which, Csesar tells us, was given, by the 
Gauls, to the temporary judge, or chief, 
whom they chose upon extraordinary emer- 
gencies ; and, even to " the extravagance 
" of a Celtic etymologist," it will not be de- 
nied, that this term signifies, literalty, " a 
" man to judge." * Whether the ver, oxfer, 
of the Celts, or the mr of the Romans, be 
the original, it is needless to enquire. In 
whatever way the matter be decided, we 
have the term sufficiently early for the use 
of Ossian, 

* Fer, a man,--- gu, to, — breth, judge, is Gaelic at this* 
dav. 



OF OSSIAN'S POEMS. 125 

In the same manner, though cloidhe, a 
sword, bears some resemblance to the gla- 
dius of the Latins, it does not follow, that 
the former has been borrowed from the 
latter. We know, from Tacitus, that the 
Caledonians wore long swords seventeen 
hundred years ago ; and, there is good rea- 
son to conclude, that, four hundred years 
before that period, Brennus and his troops 
left, with the Romans, such an impression 
of their swords, as might serve to perpetuate 
their name for that instrument. The same 
remark may be applied to saighid, ail arrow, 
resembling the Latin sagitta, and to many 
similar instances of resemblance. 

Indeed, of the terms which are found to 
have this resemblance in the Celtic and in 
the Latin, and to which the former seems 
to have as just a claim as the latter, the 
number is very considerable, and seems to 
justify the observation of Leibnitz, already 
cited, " that the origin of the Latin is best 



126 ON THE AUTHENTICITY 

" illustrated by the genuine remains of the 
" ancient Celtic." David Powel, in his An- 
notations on Giraldus Cambrensis' Descrip- 
tion of Wales,* gives a long list of Welsh 
terms, which resemble the Latin in sound, 
as well as in signification. He adds, " that 
" he could have produced six hundred more 
" of such terms, not," says he, " recently 
" introduced, but used, even by the vulgar, 
" more than a thousand years ago." 

For the amusement of those, who may be 
curious in this kind of literature, I subjoin 
a few terms, from Powel's list, adding the 
Gaelic and the English of each. 



Welsh. 


Latin. 


Gaelic. 


English. 


Aradr, 


Aratrum, 


Arar, (com) 


A Plough. 


Arneu, 


Arm a, 


Arm, 


Arms. 


Aur, 


Aurum, 


Or, 


Gold. 


Awr, 


Hora, 


Uair, 


An Hour. 


Ber, 


Veru, 


Bir, 


A Spit. 



Cambrise Descriptio, c. 15. Powel wrote in, 1585. 



OF OSSIANS POEMS. 



127 



Welsh. 


Latin. 


Gaelic. 


English. 


Car, 


Carrus, 


Carbad, 


A Chariot, or 
Car. 


Casw, 


Caseus, 


Cais, 


Cheese. 


Cely, 


Celare, 


Ceil, 


To Conceal. 


Dilyw, 


Diluvium, 


Dil, 


A Deluge, or 
Flood. 


Lhin, 


Linum, item 


Lin, or Linn, 


Flax, or a Ge- 




Linea, 




neration. 


Lhuric, 


Lorica, 


Luireach, 


A Coat of Mail. 


Lhyver, 


Liber, 


Lcabhar, 


A Book. 


Mel, 


Mel, 


Mil, 


Honey. 


Mor, 


Mare, 


Muir, 


The Sea. 


Mynyth, 


Mons, 


Mona', 


A mountain. 


Nos, 


Nox, 


N'ochd, 


Night. 


Pawl, 


Palus, 


Poll, 


A Pool. 


Porth,* 


Portus, 


Port, 


A Harbour. 


Sych, 


Siccus, 


Sec, 


Parched. 


Tarw, 


Taurus, 


Tarbh, 


A Bull. 


Tir, 


Terra, 


Tir, 


Land. 


Tyst, 


Testis, 


Teist, 


A witness. 



It were an easy matter to add another six 
hundred, to Mr PoweFs six hundred words, 
of which it is equally probable that the ori- 



* See Cambden, p. 227. 



128 ON THE AUTHENTICITY 

gin was Celtic, as that it was Latin. I have 
seen a specimen of an intended work, on 
this subject, by an ingenious friend, the Re- 
verend Mr Donald Macintosh, Gaelic secre- 
tary to the Highland Society of Scotland, 
which, for the sake of literature, it were to 
be wished he would yet accomplish. From 
such a work, ably executed, it would be 
seen, how much the languages of Europe 
owe to the Celtic. 

After what has been advanced, it seems 
unnecessary to advert to Mr Laing's obser- 
vations on the Gaelic, talla, " a, kail" or, more 
properly, " a recess." Mac Talla nan Creag ; 
i. e. iC the Son of the Recesses of the Rock y " 
is the epithet which has always been, and is 
still, given by the Highlanders to Echo. 
Speur, " the sky," resembles, indeed, as he 
remarks, the sphcera of the Greeks; but it is 
certain, that the term, with us, is ancient; 
it might have been introduced into Gaul by 
the Phocean colony, or it might have been 



OF OSSIAN'S POEMS. 139 

introduced into Greece by the Celtic inva- 
ders. 

Taking Mr Laing's objections in the order 
in which they lie, I cannot help adverting 
to his solemn trifling on the " wings of the 
" wind" of Ossian; and on the term cliadh, 
used, in Malvina's dream, to denote the hu- 
man chest* The " wings of the wind," says 
the learned gentleman, " is to be found only, 
" where it was unavoidable, in Buchanan's 
" Psalms : 

" Levibus •ventorum adremigat alis." 

Has Mr Laing forgotten the 

" Madidis notus evolat alls" 

of his old school-book Ovid ? and might he 
not even have recognized the origin of Bu- 
chanan's "' unavoidable" expression in the 
" Remigium alarum 7 of Virgil ? 

" Cliadh" says Mr Laing, " is an antici- 
M pation of the English idiom, and is liter- 
i 



130 ON THE AUTHENTICITY 

" ally the same with cista? Now, I must 
be permitted to inform the learned gentle- 
man, that cliadh is neither literally nor me- 
taphorically the same with cista. Cliadh 
signifies, literally, " a basket of osiers, wo- 
" ven upon ribs;" an obvious and just image, 
it will probably be admitted, to represent 
that part of the human body, which, in the 
English language, is called the chest. How 
the English term (I do not, with Mr Laing, 
call it the English idiom) arose, and whether 
it be more appropriate than the basket of the 
Celts, is, at present, out of the question. 

Of a great number of the terms adduced 
by Mr Laing, as bearing a near resemblance 
to the Latin, besides the general considera- 
tions on this subject, which have been al- 
ready offered, I must say, that the percep- 
tion of their similarity eludes my eye and 
my ear. He adduces the similarity of phosda 
and sponsalia, (marriage); samhla, pronoun- 
ced saiila, (appearances,) and similis (like); 



OF OSSIAN'S POEMS. 131 

j'eachda, and fights. It is true, there is a let- 
ter or two common to the Gaelic, and the 
Latin or English words. There is an s in 
samhla, and there is an s in similis ; there is 
anfimfieachcla, and in fights; but all this is 
sheer Fluellenism. " There is a river in Ma- 
" cedon, and there is a river in Monmouth, 
" and there are salmons in both." 

" Loingheas and long, a ship," says Mi- 
lling, " are undoubtedly derived from the 
" naves longce of the Romans." Cambden, 
however, informs us, that Hong is the Bri- 
tish, or Welsh, term for a ship ; * and it pro- 
bably was so as far back as the period of 
Ossian; so that it is of little consequence 
whence it has been derived. 

I shall conclude this part of the subject, 
which must appear so uninteresting to ge- 
neral readers, by adverting to Mr Laing's 
criticisms on the term fiasach, " a desart," 

* Britannia, p. 227. 



132 ON THE AUTHENTICITY 

which occurs so frequently in the Poems of 
Ossian. " The desart," he observes, " is a 
" correlative term, suggested by its contrast 
" with peopled and cultivated fields; but, as 
" all places were equally desart to a tribe of 
" hunters, who subsisted in the desart, there 
" was no relative to suggest the idea or the 
" name." 

This criticism is, at least, specious; but it 
is founded on a misconception of the term 
which is criticised. The adjective^,?, and 
the substanti vtfasach, which is derived from 
it, really signifies waste, desolate, in opposi- 
tion to peopled, or inhabited, and not in op- 
position, or contrast, to cultivated. In every 
country, then, where there are dwellings of 
men, this term has its obvious correlative. 

Mr Laing objects, on the same ground, to 
the term autumn. I shall afterwards shew, 
that Mr Macpherson has introduced this 
term, where there is no expression or idea 
in the original, by which it might be even 



OF OSSIAN'S POEMS. 133 

suggested. # That season of the year, how- 
ever, which we denominate autumn, is fre- 
quently mentioned by Ossian; but in no in- 
stance whatever, as relative to com, and 
crops, and the operations of husbandry. 
That season is uniformly mentioned by Os- 
sian, in relation to the appearances which 
Nature then presents, when the day shortens, 
when vegetables decay, when the leaves 
fall, and when the dark season (dulach) ap- 
proaches. 

It is, at the same time, proper to observe, 
that there is a circumstance that has not hi- 
therto been attended to, which may have, 
in some degree, affected the language of 
the remains of this ancient poetry, which 
are still preserved. Though the language 
of the Caledonians has continued, from the 
causes, of which notice has been taken al- 



* See the annexed new translation of the Seventh Book 
of Temora, ver. 367. 



134 ON THE AUTHENTICITY 

ready, less influenced by foreign mixture 
than any other language of Europe; yet, 
with the lapse of ages, it must have happen- 
ed, that a few terms should become obsolete; 
and that others, of more recent origin, 
should be introduced in their stead. Of this 
substitution of modern terms, for others, 
which had, in some measure, become obso- 
lete, I had a striking instance, under my 
own observation : — Robert Macneill, an old 
man, still alive, and residing in my neigh- 
bourhood, recited to me, within these few 
years, the long poem of Manos, as it is to 
be found in the Perth Collection, (p. 18.) 
in thirty- seven quatrains, which I took 
down in writing. I remarked, that when 
any term occurred, which I did not rea- 
dily understand, and of which I required an 
explanation, he always adopted a method, 
which seemed to be easier to him than to 
give an explanation. He immediately began 
the stanza anew, and dextrously substitu- 



OF OSSIAN'S POEMS. 1S5 

ted a more modern term, of similar import, 
and, what shewed considerable presence of 
mind, of the same measure : but this sub- 
stitution extended only to a few particu- 
lar terms ; the sentiment was in no instance 
altered. 

Thus ajezv, and but a few, questionable 
terms may have been introduced into these 
recitations ; and thus their introduction may 
be accounted for. But, whatever may have 
been the origin of some of those terms, on 
which Mr Laing animadverts, it is certain, 
that Mr Macpherson had no share in the 
coinage of any one of them. Indepen- 
dently of the Poems of Ossian, we have, in 
other Gaelic poems of undoubted antiqui- 
ty, and also in the fragments of ancient 
Welsh and Irish poetry, abundant proof of 
the use of those terms, from a very remote 
period. For this proof, I refer to all the 
collections of Irish and Welsh poetry, to 
Giraldus Cambrensis, and to Cambden. In 



136 ON THE AUTHENTICITY 

an ancient war song, which we know to 
be of A. D. 1411, we have the term borb, 
" barbarous" on which Mr Laing remarks 
so exulting! y. # 

* See MacdonalcTs Collection, p. o\ 



OF OSSIAN'S POEMS. 1ST 



SECTION V. 

Mr Laings alleged Imitations of ancient and mo-> 
dern Authors considered. — Avowed Imitations, 
and accidental coincidences of Thought and Ex- 
pression, in Authors who could not possibly have 
had any Communication with each other. — Ca- 
nons of Criticism, applicable to this Subject, with 
Examples. 



There is no part of his Dissertation which 
Mr Laing has laboured more, and on which 
he seems to lay greater stress, than his alle- 
ged detection of Ossian's imitations of cer- 
tain passages in the sacred scriptures, and 
in the ancient classics ; and though the best 
judges of this subject, with whom I have 
had occasion to converse, agree, in account- 
ing this part of his Treatise the most incon- 
clusive, yet I have reason to believe, that 



138 ON THE AUTHENTICITY 

on a number of his readers it has made a 
considerable impression. 

It must be acknowledged, that this is a 
topic which will naturally occur, in the dis- 
cussion of the present question, as affording 
a very obvious criterion of originality. Mr 
James Macpherson was brought up in the 
bosom of polished society; he received an 
university education; his mind was enrich- 
ed with the stores of ancient and modern li- 
terature ; he was familiarized, from an early 
period of life, to the modes of acting, and 
thinking, and expressing himself, which cha- 
racterize the scholar of the present times. 
That a person of such education, and of 
such habits of thinking, should so com- 
pletely divest himself of all his previous ac- 
quisitions in literature, and science, and of 
every idea rendered familiar to him by long 
use; and that he should be able to write, 
with uniform consistency, in the character 
of a person who is supposed to have lived 



OF OSSIAN'S POEMS. 139 

fourteen hundred years ago, and in a state 
of society so different from the present or- 
der of things ; in* short, that a modern Eu- 
ropean should produce such a work, as the 
Poetry of Ossian, distinguished, exclusively, 
by the ideas peculiar to a people in the most 
simple state of society, — all these, I confess, 
I must consider as efforts beyond the reach 
of humanity. 

From what we know of human nature, 
and of what the human mind can perform, 
it would seem impossible to exclude, from 
such a work of a modern, every idea that 
belongs to the present times, and every al- 
lusion to the peculiar habits, and discove- 
ries, and relations of modern Europe. One 
should expect, that, in every page, the tones 
of modern polished society would introduce 
themselves, and produce a discordant note; 
that the ideas of agriculture, of commerce, 
and, especially, the ideas of Christianity, 
which, in these times, occupy so much space 



140 ON THE AUTHENTICITY 

in every mind, would, from time to time, 
rush in, and give their own colouring, even 
to the picture of the life of wanderers and 
hunters. " Though you expel Nature with 
" a fork," said one who knew mankind well, 
" she will always return upon you." # The 
peculiar habits of modern polished life, are, 
to us, a second nature, and we can by no ef- 
fort entirely divest ourselves of them. To 
invent, like Psalmanazar, a new language, to 
combine the letters of the alphabet in an 
unheard of form, and to ring a chime of un- 
heard of inflections on those combinations, 
were nothing to this. It might be done by 
Sw r ift's Laputan table. But did Psalmanazar 
venture to commit himself, by giving us a 
continued composition in this new lan- 
guage; a pretended original production of 
a Formosan, with all its peculiarities of idi- 
om, of local allusion, and habits of think- 

* Horace. 



OF OSSIAN'S POEMS. 141 

ing and expression? He was too wise for 
this. 

If we find, in Ossian, clear and unequivo- 
cal evidence of allusion to modern ideas, 
manners, or events ; if we discover the pe- 
culiar modes of thinking, or of expression, 
which belong to modern times ; or if we de- 
tect palpable imitations of ancient authors, 
with whom he could not possibly have been 
acquainted, this poetry must be modern, 
and Ossian must be abandoned. But, on the 
other hand, if we discover nothing but what 
it was natural for Ossian to say and think, 
in the period and country in which he lived; 
if we rind the peculiar manners of that state 
of society, in which he is said to have flou- 
rished, uniformly and consistently support- 
ed, together with a total absence of every 
thing that is foreign and modern, — -justice 
and truth require, that these poems should 
be referred to the person and to the age to 
which they have been ascribed. 



142 ON THE AUTHENTICITY 

In order to judge truly, with regard to in- 
tended imitation, upon the one hand, and 
natural coincidences of thought, upon the 
other, it seems necessary, that certain dis- 
tinctions should be made, and certain undis- 
puted rules of criticism established. There 
are certain parallelisms of sentiment and ex- 
pression, which occur in writers, so avowed 
and palpable, that we cannot hesitate to pro- 
nounce the one an imitation, or transcript, 
of the other. But we meet, at the same 
time, with coincidences in authors, who 
could not possibly borrow from each other, 
and which are yet so striking, that we can 
only pronounce them to have originated in 
our common nature, and in the common 
aspect which belongs to human affairs. 

Thus, when I see Homers story of Pro- 
teus # copied almost literally by Virgil, | I 



* Odyss. lib. iv. v. 384. 
t Georg. lib. iv. v. 415. 



OF OSSIAN'S POEMS. U3 

cannot possibly entertain any doubt of the 
imitation. The 

* 2ualis in Eurota ripis, aut perjuga Cynthi" * 

of Virgil, is avowedly an imitation of Ho- 
mer's 

C 0«J y 'AgTtfJUq £K7* X.CCT «££0£ lo^iai^cc.f 

Virgil's 

"Ipsa decoram 

" Ccesariem nato genetrix lumenque juventce,% 

is as unquestionably borrowed from Homer's 

In these instances, and in numberless 
others, which occur in the Greek and Ro- 
man writers, there can be no doubt of in- 



* Mn. lib. i. v. 502. 
t Odyss. lib. vi. V. 102. 
% Mn. lib. i. v. 593. 
§ Odyss. lib. vi. v. 305. 



144 ON THE AUTHENTICITY 

tended and avowed imitation. But there 
are parallelisms of thought, and of expres- 
sion, to be met with, in authors, of which 
we must make a very different estimate. 
Thus, for instance, we find in Homer, and in 
the New Testament, the same image, and the 
same thought, expressed in nearly the same 
terms; and yet who will presume to say, 
that the latter is an imitation of the former? 
Homer says, 

Ttf$ y, co$ ouwofaci ts^ocxB ouyu* amatol ai^E? 
e f2$ Ttf? yytponq, fyc* 

That is : — " As easily as goat-herds sepa- 
" rate large flocks of goats, when they have 
"mixed in the pasture, so," &c. ; and, in 
the New Testament, we have, " And he 
" shall separate them one from another, as 

* Iliad, ii. v. 474. 



OF OSSIAN'S POEMS. 145 

" a shepherd divideth the sheep from the 

" goats." * 

What, again, can be more similar, both in 
thought and expression, than the manner in 
which Jacob describes the situation in which 
he shall be placed, should he be deprived of 
his favourite son, Benjamin; and that in 
which Priam describes his sorrow over the 
fate of his favourite son, Hector? " Ye will 
" bring down," says the patriarch to the rest 
of his sons, " my grey hairs with sorrow to 
" the grave." f Priam says, in nearly simi- 
lar terms, 



That is : — " For all these, I lament not so 
" much as for Hector alone, my bitter sor- 

* Matt. ch. xxv. ver. 32. 
f Genesis, ch. xliv. ver. 29. 
t Iliad, xxii. v. 424. 



146 ON THE AUTHENTICITY 

" row for whom will bring me down to the 
" grave." And yet who will say here, that 
Homer copied the expressions of Jacob ? 

The truth is, that just criticism, as well as 
common sense, furnish us with certain un- 
equivocal canons, by which to judge of 
designed imitation, and accidental coinci- 
dence in authors. Some of these, which 
seem to be applicable to this subject, I shall 
now take the liberty to suggest, and to il- 
lustrate. 

I. As external nature presents, in every 
age, the same features, varied only by the 
difference of climate, and the limited opera- 
tions of man, accurate observers of nature 
will describe those appearances, in every 
age, and in every country, by nearly similar 
images, and in nearly similar language. 

The revolutions of the seasons, the growth 
and decay of vegetables, the phenomena of 
the atmosphere, and the various aspects un- 



OF OSSIAN'S POEMS. 14T 

der which the scenery of nature appears, are 
permanent; they will strike all mankind 
with corresponding emotions, and will, con- 
sequently, be described by all, without re- 
gard to age or country, in a corresponding 
manner. It is true, the scenery of Arabia, 
and its productions, differ widely from those 
of Caledonia ; and it is from these instances 
of difference, that the poetry and eloquence 
of those countries have received their dis- 
tinctive and peculiar colouring. But, in 
Arabia, as well as in Caledonia, vegetables 
are covered with leaves, and flowers, and 
fruit, which, in their seasons, unfold them- 
selves, ripen, and decay. In both those 
countries, flowers are fragrant, birds sing, 
fields are verdant in spring, and streams flow 
down declivities. These objects and ap- 
pearances, therefore, will be described, in 
nearly the same terms, and nearly under the 
same images, of whatever age or country 
the describer be. 



148 ON THE AUTHENTICITY 

Accordingly, there occur, as might be ex- 
pected, in Homer and in Ossian, poets who 
flourished in nearly similar circumstances of 
society, many corresponding images and ex- 
pressions. If Homer describes his vrfapm 
X*^?? 00 !) his " winter's torrent," or his 



•<ZD-0T«/A«10 £E£0pa 



Oksocvh- 



That is, " the torrent of ocean's tide," Os- 
sian, in almost the same words, has, in a 
passage cited above, (p. 95.) his 

" Buime-shruthf reothairt geamhraidh." 

That is, 

" The torrent of a winter's tide." 

We have, in Homer, 



* Iliad, xiv. v. 24-5. 
f lb. i. v. 34. 



OF OSSIAN'S POEMS. 149 

that is : — " By the shore of the sea of many 
" sounds." Ossian, in Malvina's dream, has, 

" Cuan mor-shruth nan iomafuaim;" 

that is, as nearly as it can be rendered in 
the English idiom, 

f The swelling ocean of many sounds." 

But who will affirm that Ossian copied Ho- 
mer, in these descriptions of natural and or- 
dinary appearances? Will not the poet of 
Caledonia describe the grand features of na- 
ture, with which he has had an opportunity 
to be conversant, the sea, a mountain, a ri- 
ver, or lake ; or those particularly striking 
objects, the sun, the moon, the morning, 
and the morning or evening star, just as 
Job, or Moses, or Homer, or Hesiod did ? 

II. As the grand features of external na- 
ture are universal and permanent, so, with a 
few variations, arising from accidental cir- 



150 ON THE AUTHENTICITY 

cumstances, the leading features of the hu- 
man mind have been found to be nearly 
similar, in every age and country. All man- 
kind, of whatever period or nation, are not 
only affected in nearly the same manner, by 
the feelings of love and hatred, desire and 
aversion, hope and fear; but they generally 
express those feelings in similar language, 
and by similar symbols. Not to multiply 
examples, without necessity, in proof of so 
undeniable a position, I shall only instance 
the manner in which the feelings of grief 
have been expressed, in very distant ages 
and countries. 

We find Job, in his sorrow for the severe 
loss of his children, " rending his mantle, 
" and shaving his head." His friends, too, 
joined in his grief, " rending also their 
" mantles, and sprinkling dust upon their 
" heads towards heaven." # The king of 

* Job, ch. i. ver. 20. and ch. ii. ver. 12. 



OF OSSIAN'S POEMS, 151 

Nineveh expressed his sorrow for his sins, 
and those of his people, by " laying his robe 
" from him, by putting on sackcloth, and 
" by sitting in ashes." f 

It is by symbols, precisely similar, that 
Homer describes Achilles mourning over his 
beloved friend Patroclus : 

"Kivolto y.ocx, v.ztyalwq. 

K«to. % 

That is : — " And taking up, with both his 
" hands, the black dust, (or ashes,) he threw 
" it on his head ; — and he lay, stretched, 
" with his mighty length, in the dust." 

III. We may trace, in every country, and 
in every period of society, a striking same- 



t Jonah, ch. iii. ver. 6. 
I Iliad, xviii. y. 23. 



152 ON THE AUTHENTICITY 

ness in the general course of human affairs, 
as well as in the circumstances and fortunes 
of individuals. It belongs to the universal 
nature of human affairs, that the morning of 
youth should be cheerful, lively, and buoy- 
ant with hope ; that more advanced life 
should be enterprising and daring ; and that 
old age should be infirm, querulous, and dis- 
consolate. It is in the nature of human af- 
fairs, that even the good and brave should 
sometimes be overwhelmed with misfortune; 
that the best concerted enterprises should fail ; 
and that the unworthy should sometimes be 
crowned with prosperity and success. 

On all these striking circumstances of hu- 
man affairs, accordingly, it may be expect- 
ed, that observing minds will make similar 
reflections ; and that they will express those 
reflections by similar images, and in similar 
terms. Thus, speaking of the miseries of 
human life, Job observes, " That man is 
" born unto trouble : man, that is born 



OF OSSIAN'S POEMS. 153 

" of a woman, is of few days, and full of 
" trouble." * And, in the same style, says 
Homer, 

Avrvivoiai (Air uvfycto-t, 



°Ov [jiev yap Tt <Er# Irtf oifypwlspov uv^og, 
Tlavlwv ocraa. re yoaav iwin&iei rs y.oci IgTrei.f 

That is : — " With the miserable race of 
" men; — for there is nothing more wretch- 
" ed (full of trouble) than man, of all that 
6 breathe and move upon the earth." 

" To every thing," says Solomon, " there 
" is a season ; a time to keep silence, and a 
" time to speak." £ Homer has the same 
reflection, in almost the same words : 

The Psalmist describes the concord of 

* Job, ch. v. ver. 7. and ch. xiv. ver. 1. 

f Iliad, xvii. v. 445. 

j Eccles. ch. iii. ver. 1. and 7. 

§ Odyss. xi. v. 378. 



154 ON THE AUTHENTICITY 

brethren, by the following very beautiful 
images : — " Behold ! how good and pleasant 
" it is for brethren to dwell in unity ; it is 
" like the dew of Hermon, and as the dew 
" that descendeth on the mountains of 
"Zion."* 

Homer, on a kindred subject, the recon- 
ciliation of Menelaus and Antilochus, de- 
scribes the emotions of the former, by images 
similar to those of the King of Israel : 



h$ 



vpo<; 



lav®*), utret re -srepi TOt^vea-aiv Ufcm 

That is : — " And his mind was gladdened, 
" as when the dew moistens the ears of the 
" growing corn." 

Numberless other parallelisms, both of 
thought and expression, occurring in the 

* Psalm cxxxiii. 
t Iliad, xxiii. r. 597. 



OF OSSIAN'S POEMS. ; 

sacred scriptures, and in the more ancient 
Greek writers, might be produced, in which 
there can be no suspicion of imitation, but 
which naturally arise, from the similarity of 
the objects, and of the circum stances which 
are described. To seize the distinguishing 
traits of external nature, and of human cha- 
racter, is the high privilege of genius. It is 
of little consequence whether the poet be of 
Syria, or of Greece, or of the Highlands of 
Scotland ; he will stamp the character of his 
genius on the scenes and events which he 
describes, and they will come forth from his 
brain, clothed with the drapery and colour- 
ing which belong to them. 



156 ON THE AUTHENTICITY 



SECTION VI. 

Particular Examination of Mr Laing's alleged Imi- 
tation of ancient and modern Authors. — Addresses 
to the Sun, Moon, and Evening Star, — Imita- 
tions of Pope, Job. — Maxims of the Highland- 
ers concerning the Course of Human Affairs. — 
Imitations, continued in Mr Laing f s Order, of 
Virgil, Catullus, Homer, Milton. 

VV hen we turn our attention from these 
parallelisms, of which the resemblance is so 
close and striking, and which can be thus 
easily accounted for, to the vague similari- 
ties, adduced by Mr Laing, between certain 
passages of Ossian, and of the ancient or 
modern classics, we cannot help perceiving a 
forced adaptation of images and expressions, 
which either have nothing in common be- 



OF OSSIAN'S POEMS. 15T 

tween them, or which may be easily ac- 
counted for, on the principles which I have 
endeavoured to establish. 

Where, even supposing Mr Macpherson's 
translation to be just, is the resemblance be- 
tween Ossian's " Loveliness was around her 
" as light; her steps were the music of songs," 
and Milton's 

" Grace was in all her steps, heaven in her eye, 
" In every gesture dignity and love," 

except the single term " steps?" — let any 
eye or ear judge concerning farther resem- 
blance. 

Did we not know Mr Laing to be serious, 
it would seem, that he had intended a bur- 
lesque upon criticism, when he maintains, 
that the 

t€ Sen solvit crines, fusis decet esse capillis" 

of Tibullus, which, literally, is ;**•■" If she 



158 ON THE AUTHENTICITY 

" looses her hair, it becomes her to have 
" flowing locks," has furnished the original 
of Ossian's "If on the heath she moved, 
" her breast was whiter than the snow of 
" Cana." Or, when again he maintains, that 
Tibullus' 

" Seu compsit, cotrtptis est veneranda comis — 
« . Urit seu nivea, writ seu tyria" 

That is : — " If she adorn her hair, she is 

" graceful with adorned locks : she in- 

" flames, whether she is in white, or in 
" purple," is the original of Ossian's " If 
" on the sea-beat shore, than the foam of 
" the rolling ocean." In these alleged imi- 
tations, I can discern nothing common, ex- 
cept the particle seu, in the Latin, and if, in 
the English ; and I must beg leave again to 
enter my dissent against the logic of honest 
Captain Fluellen. 

Ossian's " Her dark hair flowed round it 



OF OSSIAN'S POEMS. 159 

" in streaming clouds," is again, with Mr 
Laing, Tibullus' 

— .— « Fusis decet esse capillis." 

Surely Mr Laing supposes, that his readers 
cannot translate Tibullus, or that they are 
too indolent to compare the alleged resem- 
blances. 

In the poem of Cath-Loda, Mr Laing spe- 
cifies, as what he calls " unintelligible bom- 
" bast," the following sentence of Ossian: — 
" Whence is the stream of years ? Whither 
" do they roll ? Where have they hid in mist 
" their many-coloured sides ?" I confess, 
that all this imagery appears to me beautiful 
and appropriate. " The lapse of time," and 
" the course of human affairs," are expres- 
sions, in ordinary use, in every language; 
they convey the same idea, and are founded 
on a similar metaphor with that of " the 
" stream of years." But who does not per- 
ceive, that all these figures of speech origi- 



160 ON THE AUTHENTICITY 

nate naturally, in every reflecting mind, 
from the common observation of human life? 
Must we wait to find their origin in the truly 
admirable verses of Mr Blair : 

" Son of the morning, whither art thou fled ? 

* Where hast thou hid thy many spangled head ?" 

I should not have been surprised, had Mr 
Laing traced the above-mentioned imagery 
of Ossian to a source, which, had it occur- 
red to him, he might, in the humour in 
which he wrote, have been disposed to deem 
more appropriate. In the chronological chart 
of Dr Priestley, the extent and duration of 
empires, are represented by a stream, small 
and circumscribed in its beginnings, but 
swelling as it advances; and occasionally, 
as was the fate of empires, disappearing, and 
lost in the " mist of time." In this same 
chart, he might have detected even " the 
" many coloured sides" of Ossian ; he might 



OF OSSIAN'S POEMS. 161 

have seen one empire distinguished in blue, 
another in red, and another in green. 

Leaving the supposed imitations of Scrip- 
ture for future consideration, I remark, in 
p. 413, the following quotation from Os- 
sian : — " Comest thou, O maid, over rocks, 
" over mountains, to me ?* This Mr Laing, 
compares to the verse of " an old ballad :" 

" Over hill, over dale, over high mountains." 

I most willingly concede to the learned 
gentleman any advantage which may be de- 
rived from this elegant morsel of criticism. 

I come now, however, to consider a sub- 
ject of higher import, the assertion of Mr 
Laing, (p. 414.) " that ostentatious addres- 
" ses to the sun, moon, and evening star, 

II are, alone, a detection of modern poetry, 
" to which they are peculiar." If the learn- 
ed gentleman had been able to establish this 
position in any other manner, than by his 

L 



162 ON THE AUTHENTICITY 

ordinary manner of gratuitous assertion, it 
would have afforded, at least, a very import- 
ant conclusion, though not a complete proof 
of his argument. Disclaiming the epithet 
" ostentatious," whether applied to those 
addresses that occur in Ossian, or to those 
which I shall adduce from Greek and Ro- 
man antiquity, I cannot help expressing my 
surprise, that the gentleman should have ha- 
zarded such an assertion, when he knows, 
or, at least, before he made it, should have 
known, that such addresses abound in the 
poetry of Greece and Rome. 

I must premise, however, that the Greeks 
and Romans were influenced, in those ad- 
dresses, by a very different mythology from 
that of our Caledonian ancestors ; and that, 
consequently, they assumed, with each, a 
somewhat different form. The Greeks and 
Romans considered the sun, the moon, and 
the evening star, as constituting, as they ac- 
tually do, distinct departments of inanimate 

1 



OF OSSIAN'S POEMS. 163 

nature, but directed, each of them, by an 
intelligent being, a divinity, who presided 
over them, and influenced all their energies. 
The presiding divinity of the sun was Apol- 
lo, or Phoebus ; of the moon, Diana ; and of 
the evening star, Hesperus. To those pre- 
siding powers, accordingly, these addresses 
were most usually directed. 

The Celts, again, as shall afterwards be 
shewn, paid divine honours to the sun chief- 
ly, of all the celestial luminaries. But they 
do not seem to have considered the sun as 
under the influence of a local divinity, like 
the Greeks. They appear, indeed, to have 
regarded that luminary as the beneficent pa- 
rent of light, and life, and heat, to this 
earth; but as, itself, under the controul of 
Destiny, having a beginning, and liable, 
like every other creature, to decay and de- 
struction. # If we attend to the account 

* See the opening of the beautiful fragment of Tra- 
thul, in Smith's Collection, where we have an address to 



164 ON THE AUTHENTICITY 

which Caesar and others have given us of 
the religion of the Druids, it would seem, 
that the Celts worshipped the sun, only as 
the representative and emblem of that Power 
which made and governs all things. 

Though, in the Greek and Roman poets, 
the more prevailing titles of the addresses 
in question, are to Apollo, to Diana, and to 
Venus; yet instances are by no means want- 
ing of addresses to the sun, moon, and even- 
ing star, and other striking objects of na- 
ture, in the very same style and spirit in 
which they are introduced by Ossian. 

Not to mention, then, the odes of Horace, 
of Anacreon and Sappho, addressed to the 
immortals of Olympus, I observe, that we 
meet with addresses, in the manner of Os- 
sian, in that of Juno to Sleep, Iliad, xiv. ver. 
180; to the same, in the Orestes of Euri- 
pides, ver. 211; to Night, Orestes, ver. 174; 

the sun, which I consider as equal, if not superior, to that 
which occurs in Macpherson's Carthon. 



OF OSSIAN'S POEMS. 165 

to the Air, Aristophanis Nubes, ver. %63 ; 
and to the Earth, Sophoelis Philoctetes, ver. 
403. All these addresses, though not direct- 
ed to the sun, moon, or evening star, are 
made to similarly striking objects of nature, 
and are in the same style of personification 
with those of Ossian ; they shew, at least, 
that this manner of writing does not belong, 
exclusively, to modern poetry. But I pro- 
ceed to observe, that the ancients furnish us 
with direct addresses to the sun, the moon, 
and the evening star. 

In the Carmen Nuptiale of Catullus, two 
most beautiful addresses to the evening star 
will be found; the one beginning, 

" Hespere, qui codofertur crudelior ignis;" 

and the other, 

" Hespere, qui ccelo lucetjucundior ignis" 

In the hymns ascribed to Homer, and 
which, whether they be Homer's or not, are 



166 ON THE AUTHENTICITY 

unquestionably of great antiquity, there is 
an address, or hymn, to the sun, " 'Eis 'Hmok," 
and another to the moon, " 'E/? ^ikww" both 
of which Mr Laing, should he take the trouble 
to peruse them, would, perhaps, be disposed 
to regard as ostentatious. 

But I would observe, that it is in the 
choruses of Seneca, the tragedian, that we 
have the most frequent and appropriate ad- 
dresses to the sun and moon, in the manner 
of Ossian. Thus, in his Hyppolitus, act ii. f 
to the moon : 

" Regina nemorum, sola quce montes colis 
" Et una solis montibus coleris dea : 
" magna sylvas inter et lucos dea 
" Clarumque cceli sidus, et noctis decus, 
" Cujus relucet mundus alterndface" 

That is, literally : — " O queen of the forests, 
" who, solitarily, inhabitest the mountains ; 
" and who alone art worshipped as a goddess 
" on the solitary mountains : O mighty god- 
" dess, amidst the woods and groves, bright 



OF OSSIAN'S POEMS. 167 

" luminary of heaven, and ornament of night, 
" by whose alternate torch the world is en- 
" lightened." 

And in Hercules Furens, act iii., we have 
an address to the sun ; which begins, 

" lucis alme rector, et corti decus, 

" Qui altema curru spatia Jiammifero ambiens, 

" Illustre Icetis exeris terris caput" tyc. 

I would especially point out the address 
to the sun, in Thyestes, act iv., as possessing 
many ideas in common with the beautiful 
address to that luminary, given by Dr Smith, 
in his fragment entitled Trathul. Seneca's 
begins with, 

" Quo terrarum supemumque parens, 

" Cujus ad ortus, noctis opacce 

" Decus omnefugit, quo vertis iter/* fyc. 

Which is, literally : — " Whither, O parent of 
" earth, and of the powers above, at whose 
" rising every ornament of the dusky night 
" retires, whither dost thou turn thy course?" 



168 ON THE AUTHENTICITY 

In this address, Seneca has again, 

" Quid te atherio pepulit cursu ? 
" 2uc£ causa tuos limite cerlo 
" Dejecit equosf* 

That is: — " What hath driven thee from thy 
" ethereal course ? What cause hath pushed 
" thy steeds from their regular track ?" 

Ossian, in the fragment alluded to, has, 
in his address to the sun, 



" The storms of the tempestuous 

" Shall never blow thee off from thy course." 

" The steed, in his strength, who finds 
" his companions in the breeze, and tosses 
" his bright mane in the wind, is," says Mr 
" Laing, " a literal and wretched transcript 
" from Pope's, 

" His head, now freed, he tosses to the skies ; 
" His mane, dishevelled, o'er his shoulder flies ; 
" He snuffs the females on the distant plain, 
" And springs, exulting, to his fields again." 

As to the " wretchedness" of the transcript, 



OF OSSIAN'S POEMS. 169 

I shall offer no remark ; but, as to its being 
"literal," every reader may judge. If Os- 
sian's steed be allowed to have a mane, his 
mane will " toss in the wind ;'' but what is 
there in common between " a bright mane" 
and " a dishevelled mane?" By the way, it 
is " his head" that is tossed by the horse of 
the English poet, and not ■" his mane." 

All this trifling might have been spared, 
had it been considered, that, in both these 
passages, the description relates to a striking 
object of nature — the horse ; and hence, ac- 
cording to the principles already laid down, 
similar circumstances will be introduced in- 
to the description, of whatever period or 
country the describer be. Referring, as be- 
fore, to original sources, I observe, that we 
have an instance of this, altogether in point, 
in the descriptions of this noble animal, 
which have been given in the book of Job,* 

* Job, ch. xxxix. ver. 19. 



170 ON THE AUTHENTICITY 

and in the Iliad of Homer, # where many of 
the most striking images are common to the 
two authors ; and the expression is, in some 
instances, also the same. The " vrthoio x/>o- 
" oliyoy" of Homer is, literally, " the paweth 
u in the valley," of the Oriental writer ; the 

" xvlioav" and " dfhoanqi sre7ro/(W," of Homer, 

is, "the rejoiceth in his strength," of Job. 
But who will maintain, that Homer, in this 
description, imitated Job ? 

" The description of Moina's ghost," says 
Mr Laing, " suggested confessedly' (who has 
confessed this?) " by Virgil's Dido, is un- 
" expectedly improved." 

This is a mighty concession, indeed. But 
I confess, I can discern no similarity in the 
descriptions, except the common, the obvi- 
ous, and the natural, image of " the moon 
" seen through mist." Has Virgil so appro- 

* Iliad, xv. v. 263. 



OF OSSIAN'S POEMS. 171 

priated to himself this very familiar image, 
that it cannot occur, and must not be em- 
ployed by any other poet? 

In the same manner, though it should 
seem, that nothing is more obvious than to 
compare the sun, or the moon, to a shield, 
yet, as Milton and Home have occupied 
this image, it must be denied to Ossian ; be- 
cause Milton makes his stars " hide their 
diminished heads," Ossian's stars, which have 
been probably oftener obscured by clouds 
than Milton's, must not " hide them selves'' 
upon any account; because Milton's sun has 
" sole dominion" ascribed to him, Ossian 
must take care that his sun shall not "move 
"alone" but must find "a companion in his 
" course." This seems to be strange criti- 
cism. 

"That the oaks of the mountains fall; 
" and that the mountains themselves decay 
" with years, is," says Mr Laing, " a philo- 
" sophical, or scriptural allusion, remote from 



172 ON THE AUTHENTICITY 

" the sphere of Ossians observation." I 
would observe, that the sphere of his obser- 
vation, and his talent for observing, must 
have been very circumscribed and mean in- 
' deed, if, in such a country as the Highlands 
of Scotland, he had not remarked the decay 
of aged oaks, and the wasting of the moun- 
tains by winter's torrents, and by the fall of 
rocks. These are things to be observed every 
day. 

Here I may be permitted to remark, that 
the Highlanders are distinguished, to this 
day, by the shrewdness of their observations, 
and by the propriety of their maxims, on the 
ordinary course of human affairs. The pre- 
valent colouring of these maxims, and obser- 
vations, is a certain pleasing melancholy, 
fostered probably by the sublimity, mixed 
with gloominess, of the scenery with which 
they are conversant, together with the fre- 
quency of disasters occurring to individuals, 
from accident, or from the inclemency of 



OF OSSIAN'S POEMS. 173 

the elements. The shortness and uncertain- 
ty of human life, and the prevalence of mis- 
fortune in the world, are the frequent topics 
of their reflections, and of their discourse. 

To illustrate this, besides referring to a 
very valuable collection of Gaelic proverbs, 
published by the Reverend Mr Donald Mac- 
intosh, I shall beg leave to adduce a few 
passages from the Sean-dana of Dr Smith, 
which I shall translate literally. 

" For ten and twice twenty seasons, in the vale, 

" Over Shithamha, withered the oak : — 

u Behold our days declining, 

" (Said he, at times, to his friend,) 

" Like the leaf of the oak, like the grass of the 

hill: 
" One withers away after the other. 
" Like is the period of life, and of our years 
" To the quick rushing of a stone along a pre- 
cipice." 

Losga Taura, p. 288. 

" How quickly pass the days of the hero ! 
" He sweeps the heath, in the morning ', 



174 ON THE AUTHENTICITY 

" But, before descends the night of clouds, 
" Nothing but his cold corpse is to be found. 
" Dark, short, without a sunbeam on the heath,— - 
" The life of the hero is like a day of winter." 

Com, p. 266. 

« 

" Like a gleam of the sun, in winter, 

" Rushing rapidly over the heath of Lena ; 

te Such are the days of the Fingallians, 

" Like the sun between showers, departing." 

Cathula, p. 158. 

Malvina, mourning after her sisters, says, 

* I am like the star of the morning, 

" Pale-visaged, after all the luminaries of night: 

" Brief is the course of her light, 

" As she travels after them, mournful. 

" The maiden arises to the mountain's chace ; 

** But she beholds not her * aspect above. 

" We shall depart in our own season, 

" (Says she, with tears, to her companions.)" 

Losga Taura, p. 305. 

The parallelisms, founded on the blind- 

* That is, of the star of morning. 



OF OSSIAN'S POEMS. 175 

ness of Ossian, and that of Homer and Mil- 
ton, are surely nothing else than the natural 
expression of the feelings of persons placed 
in similar circumstances. Because Homel- 
and Milton were blind, must no other poet 
be so ? and to all men, who are blind, is not 
li the sun dark?" to them does he not " shine 
" in vain ?" But that Mr Laing should dis- 
cover the " hall to which the moon retires," 
at her change, in Milton's " vacant inter- 
" lunar cave," is a stretch of imagination, 
and a discovery in astronomy, which are far 
beyond my powers. 

Of the parallelism of Virgil's 

" Quale per incertam Lunam, sub luce maligna" fyc. 

and Ossian's " glimmering light of the moon, 
" when it shines through broken clouds," I 
would only say, that it amounts to nothing 
more than that men of genius, as I have al- 
ready suggested, in describing the ordinary 
appearances of nature, will seize, in com- 



176 ON THE AUTHENTICITY 

mon, on the most prominent features, and 
necessarily produce a similar picture. Os- 
sian was not, perhaps, as good an astrono- 
mer as Virgil ; but he had probably as many 
opportunities, as the courtly inhabitant of 
Rome, of observing the picturesque scenery 
of moon-light ; and, perhaps also, he had as 
powerful a talent in describing it. 

The same remark extends also to Ossian's 
" flower of the rock, that lifts its fair head 
" unseen; and strews its withered leaves on 
" the blast." It may even be observed, that 
Ossian's image surpasses that of Catullus, 

" Flos in septis, secretis nascitur hortis* 

in point of appropriate elegance ; but it 
may, perhaps, be allowed to be inferior to 
Gray's 



" Full many a flower is born to blush unseen, 
" And waste its fragrance on the desart air." 

Had Ossian, or his translator, been merely 



OF OSSIAN'S POEMS. 17T 

imitators, in this instance, they would pro- 
bably have chosen " strews fragrance," in- 
stead of " strews withered leaves." The 
image, in all these instances, is beautiful; 
but it is obvious and natural ; it has occur- 
red to thousands, though, perhaps, it has 
not, by any others, been so well expressed. 

"Oscar's soliloquy, when alone, in Caros," 
says Mr Laing, " is written in emulation of 
" Ulysses' soliloquy in the Iliad." By parity 
of reason, we must conclude, that every 
other soliloquy of a hero, left in distress, 
must be written in emulation of the same 
Homeric model. It is to be remarked, that 
Mr Laing does not, in this instance, allege 
the most distant shade of imitation. 

" Like the noise of a cave, when the sea 
" of Togormo rolls before it," it will pro- 
bably be admitted, is an image very natu- 
ral and obvious to an inhabitant of the west- 
ern coast of Scotland, where this grand fea- 
ture of nature is so frequently exhibited on 

M 



It8 ON THE AUTHENTICITY 

the most magnificent scale. But, accord- 
ing to Mr Laing, Ossian must have borrow- 
ed it from Milton's 

w When hollow rocks retain 

* The sound of blustering winds, which, all night long, 
" Had raised the sea." — 

A very slight analysis will satisfy us, 
that the learned gentleman has been peculi- 
arly unfortunate in this example of imita- 
tion. In Ossian, it is evidently the reverbe- 
ration of the roaring of the waves, from a cave 
on the shore, which is spoken of; in Milton, 
it is the sound of the winds retained in the cave 
itself. 

Another instance of classical imitation is 
given very pompously; " that Ossian should 
" compare the generations of men to leaves," 
with Horace; or to " the annual succession 
" of leaves," with Homer, is declared to be 
" a supposition too gross for the most cre- 
" dulous to believe." 



OF OSSIAN'S POEMS. 179 

Without recurring to the remarks, which 
I have formerly offered, and endeavoured to 
exemplify, on the frequency and apposite- 
ness of the maxims of the Highlanders, con- 
cerning the uncertainty of the condition of 
man in this world, (maxims probably deri- 
ved from the philosophy of the Druids;) I 
shall only observe, that, to men, who are ca- 
pable of the slightest reflection, the progress 
of human beings, from their birth to their 
death, cannot be more obviously or fitly sug- 
gested, than by images borrowed from the 
growth and decay of the subjects of the ve- 
getable kingdom, which is, at all seasons, 
under our observation. Accordingly, we 
find, that images, derived from this source, 
have been adopted, and abound in the poetry 
of all nations. This imagery is far more an- 
cient than Horace, and is to be met with in 
authors who had no communication with 
Homer. " Men," says the Psalmist, " are 
" like grass that groweth up : in the mom- 



180 ON THE AUTHENTICITY 

" ing, it flourisheth, and groweth up ; in the 
" evening, it is cut down, and withereth." * 
" As for man, his days are as grass, as a 
" flower of the field, so he flourisheth ; for 
" the wind passeth over it, and it is gone, 
" and the place thereof shall know it no 
" more."f 

In the description of Swaran, " tall as a 
" rock of ice^ and his spear like a blasted 
" pine," Mr Laing recognizes Milton's spear 
of Satan, 

" To equal which, the tallest pine," &c. 

Here, again, it would appear, that the 
learned gentleman has not attended to the 
well known principle, that all men are dis- 
posed to represent nature under the com- 
mon aspect which she presents in every age 
and country. Pines grow still in Scot- 



* Psalm xc. ver. 5. 
t Psalm ciii. ver. 15. 



OF OSSIAN'S POEMS. 181 

land, and they grew formerly in more abun- 
dance. Ossian had probably occasion to 
see taller pines than the Poet of England 
had ever beheld; but Milton's imagination 
was assisted by the description of " the ce- 
" dars of Lebanon." When, therefore, they 
had occasion to describe an enormous length 
of spear, what was more natural, than that 
the one should borrow his image from the 
stateliest tree of which he had read, and the 
other, from the stateliest tree which he had 
seen ? 

It appears almost unnecessary to take no- 
tice of Mr Laing's parallel between the de- 
scription of a battle in Ossian, and that of 
one in Pope's Homer, The only common 
traits that occur in these descriptions, anxi- 
ously marked in italics, are " echoing hills;" 
" streams pouring," — in Ossian, " from the 
"hills;" and, in Pope, "along the plain," 
and " roaring" as they pour. It is unneces- 
sary here to enter into a physical argument 



182 ON THE AUTHENTICITY 

to prove, that, when sounds are emitted, 
hills, if they are near enough, must " echo;" 
that streams, in every age and country, " pour 
" down from hills ;" and that, as they " pour," 
they roar. 

Where, again I would ask, is the resem- 
blance between the following sentences : — 
" Cuchullin's sword was like the beam of 
" heaven, when it pierces the sons of the 
<c vale : the people are blasted, and fall, 
" and all the hills are burning around f and 
Pope's 

(t Less loud the woods, when flames in torrents pour, 
" Catch the dry mountain, and its shades devour?" 

or Virgil's 

" Ac veluti immissi diversis partibus ignes 
" Arentem ad sylvam ?" 

Does not every one, who understands the 
languages in which these sentences are writ- 
ten, perceive, that Ossian's is the compari- 



OF OSSIAN'S POEMS. 18S 

son of a hero's sword to lightning, which is 
well known frequently to produce conflagra- 
tion; whilst, in the two last, there is no^ 
thing of a sword, or lightning, but only of 
an ordinary conflagration? 

The conformity of the imagery employ- 
ed in describing Cuchullin's encounter with 
Swaran, and that of Milton's combat of Sa- 
tan and Death, is adduced, by Mr Laing, 
as another proof of Ossian's plagiarism. Let 
any impartial reader compare the passages, 
and, if he can discover any other similarity, 
besides the comparison of the respective 
heroes to " two clouds," as Ossian has it or 
to " two black clouds," as Milton, I shall, 
at least, yield up this instance. Mr Laing, 
I observe, would insinuate, by his italics, 
another point of resemblance : — Ossian, as 
before, compares his hero's sword to light- 
ning ; and Milton describes his two black 
clouds as " fraught with heaven's artillery." 
Is this imitation? Is it resemblance? 



184 ON THE AUTHENTICITY 

It is, I must confess, a very irksome task 
to pursue, through all their light shades, 
those empty phantoms of resemblance, which 
the learned gentleman conjures up to his ex- 
hibition, with such extreme facility. By this 
same method, any composition whatever may 
be assimilated to any other, without end; if 
a single expression, or image, however na- 
tural and obvious, occurring, in common, in 
different authors, be deemed sufficient to 
establish the charge of plagiarism. 

" Weep not on thy rock of roaring winds, 
" O maid of Innistore," is, with Mr Laing, 

" On Norway's coasts, the widowed dame 
" May wash the rocks with tears." 

Ossians " bend thy fair head over the 
" waves," is, 

" May lang look o'er the seas." 

Surely the learned gentleman does not ima^ 



OF OSSIAN'S POEMS. 185 



gine, that this will make any impression, or 
that it requires refutation. 

Mr Laing (p. 424.) triumphs in " a sin- 
" gular detection." In the episode of Cair- 
bar and Brassolis, Mr Macpherson had trans- 
lated, " Here rests their dust; and these two 
" lonely yews sprung from their tombs, and 
" wished to meet on high." This, being 
reprobated by Dr Blair, was altered, it ap- 
pears, into " the lonely yews sprung from 
" their tombs to shade them from the 
" storm." 

I have already shewn the futility of Mr 
Laing's argument to prove the non-existence 
of the yew-tree in Scotland ; and, as to the 
alteration made, in the expression of this 
sentence, in a later edition, by Mr Macpher- 
son, it is what may be very easily accounted 
for, if we consider, for a moment, the man- 
ner in which he, and Dr Smith, and indeed 
all collectors of poetry from oral tradition, 
not excepting Lycurgus himself, did, and 



186 ON THE AUTHENTICITY 



necessarily must, proceed in arranging the 
different recitations which they meet with. 

I have seen an extract of a letter (as far as I 
recollect) of the late Reverend Mr Maclagan 
of Blair in Atholl, inserted by way of a note, 
on a page of one of the volumes of Duncan 
Kennedy's Collection of Gaelic Poetry, now 
in the possession of the Highland Society of 
Scotland, from which it appears, that Mr 
Macpherson possessed, at least, three differ- 
ent recited editions of one of the poems 
which he published ; that he did not adhere 
implicitly to any one of them; but that, by 
exercising his taste and judgment, in select- 
ing, and in arranging, he has presented an 
edition more perfect than any of them sing- 
ly could have furnished. In the exercise of 
this judgment and taste, indeed, in selecting, 
and in arranging, I have always considered 
Mr Macpherson's chief merit to consist. 

Dr Smith, too, in his Gleanings of Gaelic 
Poetry, some of which possess very high 



OF OSSIANS POEMS. 18T 

merit, has avowedly pursued the same plan. 
He frequently suppresses passages ordinarily 
given in recitation ; because he does not 
consider them as properly belonging to the 
poem, and subjoins them in a note, as in 
Tiomna Ghuill, p. 69. See also, pp. 232. 
272. 309, &c. And, where he has occasion 
to hesitate, with regard to the preferable 
edition, he gives the one in the text, and 
the other in a note, as in p. 59- Besides, I 
observe, that, in almost every page of the 
Seandana, we have whole lines, at the bot- 
tom of the page, in the style of Bentley's va- 
rious readings. 

But I anticipate a subject, which will 
come to be considered afterwards, when I 
shall endeavour to shew, that, except the se- 
venth book ofTemora, and a few of the purer 
passages of Dr Smith's Collection, no part 
of Ossians poetry, which has yet been pre- 
sented to the public, is a fair object of criti- 
cism. The expressions, the imagery, and 



188 ON THE AUTHENTICITY 

even the sentiments, have undergone such a 
change, in the translations, that the genuine 
style of Ossian is not easily to be recognised. 

f< Crugafs ghost of mist" is insinuated, by 
Mr Laing, to be the offspring of the shade 
of Patroclus, the " yvn kolttvoq" of Homer, 
with an acknowledged improvement. But 
this, the gentleman must be informed, is 
sacred ground. We, Highlanders, claim 
as extensive an acquaintance with the race 
of ghosts, as any persons whatever : we in- 
deed claim, in them, an almost exclusive 
property. Nor is the construction of our 
ghosts less elegant than those of Homer. 
We, as well as he, believe them to be airy, 
unsubstantial forms, which sometimes render 
themselves visible, like mist, or the conden- 
sed breath of animals. 

Of the allusions to frost, which occur in 
these Poems, I have taken notice already. 
" The heroes," says Ossian, " stood on the 
" heath, like oaks, with all their branches 



OF OSSTAN'S POEMS; 18# 

" round them, when they echo in the stream 
" of frost; and their withered branches are 
* rustling in the wind," 

The original of this is found, by Mr 
Laing, in Milton's 

« Stood, 

" Their glory withered, as when Heaven's fire/' 
&c. 

— « Their stately growth 



" Stands on the blasted heath." 

And, again, Ossian has : — " They stood like 
" a half-consumed grove of oaks, when we 
" see the sky through its branches, and the 
" meteor passing behind." " This," says Mr 
Laing, " is Milton's 

— " Satan alarmed, 



" Collecting all his might, dilated stood, 
" Like Teneriffe, or Atlas, unremoved ; 
" His stature reached the sky, and on his crest 
" Sat horror plumed." — 

In order to refute the charge of plagia- 
rism, in these instances, nothing further 



190 ON THE AUTHENTICITY 

seems requisite, than to place the passages 
beside each other, and to request the read- 
er's attention to the alleged resemblance. 

" Cuchullin stood before him, like a hill 
" that catches the clouds of heaven ; the 
"winds contend on its head of pines ; the 
" hail rattles on its rocks : but firm, in its 
" strength, it stands, and shades the vale of 
" Cona." This, Math Mr Laing, is Virgil's 

a Horrendumque intonat armis, 



'< Quantus Athos, aut quantus Eryx, aut ipse coruscis, 
" Cum fremit ilicibus quantus, gaudetque nivali 
" Venice, se attollens pater Appeninus ad auras." * 

There are, indeed, in these passages, some 
slight shades of resemblance, such as must 
occur in the compositions of men of genius, 
describing natural scenes of the same kind ; 
but these passages, at the same time, pre- 
sent strong lines of difference. In Virgil, a 
hero, rustling in his armour, is very well 

* Mn. lib. xii. v. 700. 



OF OSSlAN'S POEMS. 191 

compared to a mountain, resounding under 
the storm: in Ossian, again, we have an 
image, frequently employed by poets, of a 
hero, firm in his strength, like the hill that 
catches the clouds of heaven, and resists the 
hail rattling on its rocks. 

" Perhaps the most egregious imitation," 
says Mr Laing, " is that of Milton's sun in 
" an eclipse. Ossian has, ' the darkened 
" moon, when she moves in a dun circle, 
" through the heavens, and dreadful change 
" is expected by men' This," says Mr Laing, 
" is Milton's moon 

" In dim eclipse," (which) " with fear of change, 
" Perplexes monarchs." 

Surely Mr Laing is not ignorant, that all 
rude nations have entertained awful forebo- 
dings of evil, from the eclipses of the celes- 
tial luminaries. Some nations imagine, that, 
when the sun or moon are in eclipse, they 
are assailed by a hideous dragon; and they 



192 ON THE AUTHENTICITY 

beat drums and kettles, in order to terrify 
the monster. In all periods of rude society, 
these phenomena have been supposed to 
prognosticate the disasters of nations, and 
the downfal of empires. It would have been 
strange, if our Caledonian ancestors had af- 
fixed no such notions to those appearances. 
The only other coincidence of Ossian with 
a classical writer, of which I shall take no- 
tice, is his comparison of a hero to " a rock 
" in a sandy vale : the sea comes with its 
" waves, and roars against its hardened sides : 
" its head is covered with foam, the hills are 
" echoing around." " This," says MrLaing, 
" is Virgil's 

" Ille velut pelagi rupes immota resistit; 

" tit pelagi rupes, magno veniente fragore 

" 2uce sese, multis circum latraniibus undis, 

" Mole tenet : Scopuli nequicquam et spumea circum 

te Saxa fremunt" 

It is wonderful, that Mr Laing should not 
have perceived, that this is a simile founded 



OF OSSIANS POEMS. 193 

on appearances so obvious and natural, that 
they must necessarily occur to all observers, 
who have had an opportunity of beholding 
them : and it may be remarked, that Ossian 
had, at least, as many opportunities of see- 
ing a rock beat by the waves of the sea as 
Virgil. After all, the only common traits, in 
the two similes, are the " foam" and the 
" roaring of the waves." 



N 



194 ON THE AUTHENTICITY 



SECTION VII. 

Alleged Imitations of sacred Scripture considered. — 
Rhyme occurring in Ossian. — Proof of the Use 
of Rhyme, in Wales, before the Twelfth Cen- 
tury, from Giraldus Cambrensis. — Conclusion of 
Remarks on Mr Laing's Criticism. 

Mr Laing, in proof of Mr Macpherson's 
being the author of these poems, has addu- 
ced a long list of supposed imitations of the 
style and imagery of sacred Scripture. And 
here, indeed, it must be acknowledged, that 
we find certain coincidences much more 
strongly marked than those which we have 
been lately considering. But is not this just 
what might have been expected, — that Os- 
sian, living in an early period, and in a 

simple state of society, should abound in 
10 



OF OSSIAN'S POEMS. 199 

that boldness of imagery, which particularly 
characterizes the earlier writers of every 
country ? Dr Blair, who, it will probably be 
allowed, notwithstanding the sneer of Mr 
Laing, # was as well entitled to lay down 
canons of criticism as any man, since the 
days of Quintilian, has observed, " that Ori- 
" ental poetry might be termed, w T ith the 
" same propriety, Occidental, as it is charac- 
" teristic rather of an age, than of a country, 
" and, in some measure, belongs to all na- 
" tions, in a rude and early state." Hence, 
accordingly, it is, that, in figurativeness of 
expression, and abruptness of transition, the 
style of Ossian bears a greater affinity to 
that of Moses, and Solomon, and Homer, 
than to that of Virgil or Ovid. 

It is on this principle, without having re- 
course to imitation, that we may easily ac- 
count for the slight resemblance that is to 

* Page 409. 



196 ON THE AUTHENTICITY 

be found in the Queen of Sheba's address to 
Solomon, and Ossian's " Happy are thy 
" people, O Fingal ; thou art the first in 
" their danger ; the wisest in the days of 
" their peace." The parallelisms, between 
some passages in the Song of Solomon and 
those cited from Ossian, are also striking, 
and one of them is pointed out by Mr Mac- 
pherson himself; — a certain indication of the 
light in which he considered them. But, if 
we examine these parallelisms attentively, 
we shall find, that they all consist of images 
borrowed from common and obvious objects; 
as, " the roe and the hart;" " the passing off 
" of the storm, or of the winter, or of rain." 
Will any person say, that, because Solomon 
has employed these images, they could not 
occur to the poet of another country, not 
dissimilar to Palestine in its scenery, and in 
its natural productions ? Must Ossian be 
charged with plagiarism, when he says, " I 
" will bring thee to my fathers house;" be- 



OF OSSIAN'S POEMS. 19T 

cause Solomon had said, " I will bring thee 
" to my mother's house ?" Because the King 
of Israel, in describing female beauty, se- 
lects those traits which, in every age, and 
in every country, have been deemed the 
constituents of beauty, must Ossian, if he 
pretends to speak of female loveliness, be of 
a different taste from Solomon, and Homer, 
and Anacreon, and make beauty consist in 
something else than what was ever account- 
ed beautiful before ? 

In the description of Cuchullin's car, Mr 
Laing recognizes Solomon's chariot, and 
Ovid's chariot of the sun. That the Cale- 
donians, of that period, had their cars, we 
know from the testimony of Greek and Ro- 
man history. But, I fancy, it will be a diffi- 
cult matter to identify Solomon's " bottom 
" of gold, his covering of purple, and paving 
" of love," with Ossian's " seat of bone, and 
" the bottom the footstool of heroes ;" or 
that of Ovid's " golden pole, his chryso- 



198 ON THE AUTHENTICITY 

" lyths and gems," with Ossian's simple 
" beam of polished yew," and embossment 
of " native stones." 

To call the grave " a house, or dwelling," 
is, I believe, a metaphor to be found in all 
languages. It is called, in scripture, " the 
(t house appointed to all living." Ossian's 
" dark and narrow house" * is, according to 
Mr Laing, " a transcript of this Scripture 
" expression." Had he consulted his classics, 
he might have found a much more apposite 
original in Horace's " Domus exilis Pluto- 
" nia;-\ and, in the same passage, he might 
have seen how frequently common and ob- 
vious objects are described under the same 
images, by writers of very different ages and 
countries, without any possible ground to 

* The expression occurs in the original of the Seventh 
Book of Temora. It is, " Tigh caol gun leus ;" — that is, 
literally, " The narrow house without a torch." 

t Hor. Carm. lib. i. ode 4<. — " The narrow house of 
* Pluto." 



OF OSSIAN'S POEMS. 199 

suspect that the one had imitated or copied 
the other. In the ode of Horace, which has 
been alluded to, we find death, just as in the 
style of Scripture, termed night ; and the 
shortness of human life described in almost 
the same words with those of the Psalmist. 
The " vitce summa brevis" of Horace, is the 
" few have the days of the years of my life 
" been," of the patriarch Jacob, or the "thou 
" hast made my days as an handbreadth," of 
King David. It were, indeed, an insult to 
the understanding of the reader to multiply 
examples of such coincidences of thought 
and imagery, which occur in writers, who 
could not possibly have had any mutual com- 
munication of ideas. 

On this principle, I consider it as altoge- 
ther unnecessary to enter into a more mi- 
nute discussion of the other resemblances 
between certain passages of Scripture and 
certain passages of Ossian, where, indeed, 
amidst much dissimilarity, there are to be 



200 ON THE AUTHENTICITY 

found some ideas and terms which coincide; 
and I must again add, that, until we have 
the whole original of Ossian before us, as 
we have the Seventh Book of Temora, or, 
at least, a faithful and literal translation, we 
are not in a condition to institute a satisfac- 
tory comparison. Mr Macpherson, as I shall 
afterwards endeavour to shew, has, on many 
occasions, like other translators, adopted 
phrases, and turns of expression, which, from 
his acquaintance with the ancient classics, 
and particularly from his acquaintance with 
Scripture, (acquired, probably, as Mr Laing 
insinuates, during his studies in the Divinity 
Hall,) were familiar to his own mind. But 
are any of these phrases to be traced in Os- 
sian ? Are any of them to be found in the 
original of the Seventh Book of Temora ? 
This will be seen in the sequel. 

The imagery employed by Ossian, in de- 
scribing the fall of Balclutha, is compared, by 
Mr Laing, with some descriptions of deso- 



OF OSSIAJTS POEMS. 201 

lation which occur in Scripture. But who 
does not perceive, that "thorns, and thistles, 
" and rank weeds, with the intrusions of the 
" fox, and other wild animals, on the desert- 
" ed dwelling," must necessarily enter into 
the description of such a scene, to whatever 
age or country the poet may belong ? 

The last of Mr Laing's objections to the 
authenticity and antiquity of these Poems, 
which shall now be noticed, is expressed as 
follows : (p. 436.) " Rhyme,' 1 says he, " is a 
" corruption of Greek and Latin poetry, first 
" introduced, on account of its extreme fa- 
" cility, into monkish verse ; and adopted, 
" in Italian poetry, in the ninth century ; 
" into Saxon, in the eleventh ; and into 
" Scandinavian poetry, in the beginning of 
" the thirteenth century. In Welsh poetry, 
" it was unknown to Giraldus Cambrensis, 
" in the twelfth century. The introduction 
" of Rhymes, in Ossian, five hundred years 
u before they were known in Europe, and 



202 ON THE AUTHENTICITY 

" one thousand years before they were used 
" in Wales, is alone a detection." 

This objection, were it enforced by ade- 
quate proofs, would, no doubt, have very 
great weight. It had been obliging, how- 
ever, if the learned gentleman had directed 
his readers to the precise passage, in which 
Giraldus asserts, that rhymes were unknown 
in Wales in the twelfth century. I have 
searched, in vain, for any which can, by the 
most remote implication, be understoodto con- 
vey such an idea. But, unfortunately for Mr 
Laing's argument, there occurs a well known 
passage, in which Giraldus expressly affirms, 
that the Welsh excelled in rhymes : — M In 
" cantilenis rythmicis, et dictamine, tarn subtiles 
" inveniuntur, tit miraz et exquisites inventionis, 
" tarn verborum, quam sententlarum projerant 
" exornationes ; wide et poet as (quos Bardos 
" meant) ad hoc deputatos multos invenias, 

* Cambriae Descriptio, c. xii. 



>»# 



OF OSSIAN'S POEMS. 203 

That is : — " They are found so polished in 
" rhyming ditties, f and in expression, that 
" they produce beauties of words and senti- 
" ment, of wonderful and exquisite inven- 
" tion ; whence you may find poets amongst 
c( them (whom they call Bards) appointed for 
" this purpose." 

The passage is important ; it shews not 
only how unfounded is the assertion of Mr 
Laing, but that, from the nicety (subtiks) 
and perfection to which the Welsh had, in 
the days of Giraldus, carried the invention 
of rhyme, its use amongst them must neces- 
sarily have been of great antiquity. Indeed, 
were this the proper place for such a disquisi- 
tion, it might not be difficult to shew, that 
rhyme had its first origin amongst the nations 
of Celtic stock. When we consider the ac~ 

f It is admitted by a learned journalist, (Edinburgh 
Review, No. VII. p. 206.) that rythmicis is the adjective 
agreeing with cantilenis. 



20* ON THE AUTHENTICITY 

count of Caesar and of Mela, already cited, — 
" that the disciples of the Druids, during a 
" course of study, which sometimes was 
" continued for twenty years, learned a vast 
" number of verses, which they committed 
" to memory," — it appears highly probable, 
at least, that, in order to facilitate the reten- 
tion of such a mass of verse, they found it 
necessary to have recourse to rhyme, — an in- 
vention evidently calculated to ease the la- 
bours, and to promote the accuracy, of the 
Bardic recitations. 

I have now done with my observations on 
the criticisms of Mr Laing. I hope that on 
no occasion, in considering his arguments, 
have I said any thing inconsistent with the 
respect which I bear to his abilities, and to 
his honourable profession. Mr Laing depre- 
cates abuse : I trust, that I shall not be 
deemed to have given him any. But I can- 



OF OSSIAN'S POEMS. 205 

not help expressing something more than 
regret, when he allows so many intemperate 
expressions to escape himself, in speaking of 
such respectable characters as Dr Blair, Lord 
Karnes, Dr Smith, &c. Speaking of those 
gentlemen of the Highlands, " who have at- 
" tested the authenticity of Mr Macpher- 
" son's translations," he says, " had Mr Mac- 
" pherson, instead of an epic poem, pro- 
u claimed the discovery of a new Gospel, I 
" verily believe, he would have obtained the 
" same attestations." I must beg leave to 
tell Mr Laing, in return to the indecent flip- 
pancy of this remark, that there are, in the 
Highlands of Scotland, persons who, whilst 
they believe the poems ascribed to Ossian to 
be ancient and authentic, are able also to 
form a proper estimate of the infinitely more 
important objects of their religious faith ; and 
who, whilst they can innocently amuse them- 
selves in perusing a page of Homer or of 



206 ON THE AUTHENTICITY 

Ossian, with as much taste as the learned 
gentleman, know, and value, the Sacred Vo- 
lume too highly u to receive another Gospel, 
" though it were preached to them by an 
" angel from heaven." 



OF OSSIAN'S POEMS. SOT 



SECTION VIII. 

Estimate of the different Collections of Gaelic Poetry, 
which have been made, — by Mr Jerome Stone, 
Mr Duncan Kennedy, and Dr John Smith, 

It would seem, that there is no method bet- 
ter calculated to elucidate the subject of the 
authenticity of these poems, than a particu- 
lar enquiry into the manner in which the 
different collections of them have been con- 
ducted and given to the world. Of these 
collections, that of Mr Macpherson undoubt- 
edly claims our principal attention; but it 
is not foreign to our argument to notice, 
shortly, those of Mr Stone, Dr Smith, and 
Mr Kennedv. 



208 ON THE AUTHENTICITY 



I. Jerome Stone. 

Mr Jerome Stone, formerly, I believe, a 
schoolmaster at Dunkeld, seems to have been 
the first, who drew the attention of the pub- 
lic to the ancient poetry of the Highlands. 
In 1756, he published, in the Scots Maga- 
zine, a translation, in verse, of Bas Fhra- 
oich, (the Death of Fraoch,) under the title 
of Albin and Mey. The original appears to 
be a poem of very great antiquity ; and pos- 
sesses much merit and interest. It is given, 
by Mr Mackenzie, in the Appendix to the 
Report of the Committee, (p. 99.) with 
Stone's version, and a literal one subjoined, 
in thirty-three stanzas of four lines each. 
Mr Mackenzie has given it from Mr Stone's 
own copy, which he procured, with some 
trouble, from Mr Chalmers of London. It 
approaches nearer to the style of the Gaelic 



OF OSSIAN'S POEMS. 209 

fragments of Ossian, that are before the 
public, than any thing I have yet met with. 

With regard to this poem, I have to men- 
tion, as an additional proof of the actual 
transmission of very ancient Gaelic poetry, 
by oral tradition, through a long period of 
time, that there is an old woman, now alive, 
and residing at Kirktown of Aberfoyle, Sarah 
Maclachlane, a native of Ardgour, in Loch- 
aber, who lately repeated to me this long 
poem, as given by Mr Mackenzie, verse for 
verse, with the exception of the transposi- 
tion of a few stanzas ; but with the omission 
of none. She can repeat no other ancient 
Gaelic poem ; but is well acquainted with 
the historical tradition of the burning of 
Taura, the palace of Fingal, with all the 
wives of the Fingallians ; a story which 
forms the subject of one of the poems given 
in Dr Smith's Collection, entitled Losga 
Taura. 

Though Mr Macpherson be the next, in 
o 



210 ON THE AUTHENTICITY 

point of time, and by far the most eminent 
in the importance of his collections, it seems 
more convenient, reserving the consideration 
of his Ossian till the last, to discuss the me- 
rits of the inferior collections of Dr Smith, 
and of Mr Kennedy, 

IT. Duncan Kennedy. 

Of these two gentlemen, Mr Kennedy, 
formerly a schoolmaster in Argyleshire, now 
an accountant in Glasgow, appears to have 
begun to collect Gaelic poetry first ; that is, 
somewhat prior to the year 1780. He has 
given an account of the names and residence 
of the persons, from whose oral recitation he 
collected these poems, which is published in 
the Appendix to the Committee's Report, 
No. xvi. Art. 2. 

His collection consists of three thin folio 
volumes, in manuscript, which were purcha- 
sed, some years ago, by the Highland Society 

5 



OF OSSIAN'S POEMS. 211 

of Scotland, and are now in the possession 
of the Society. I have seen them, a few 
years ago, by the favour of Mr Mackenzie, 
in the hands of the late Dr Donald Smith. 

As the share which it appears Mr Ken- 
nedy had in framing that collection is no 
longer a secret, and especially as his preten- 
sions, on this occasion, have, with those to 
whom they are yet unexplained, tended to 
confirm their scepticism, on the subject of 
Ossians Poems, I consider it as my duty to 
investigate this point minutely, and, at the 
same time, with the utmost impartiality. 

In October 1805, an opportunity occur- 
red to me of opening a correspondence with 
Mr Kennedy, on the subject of Ossian's 
Poems, of which I shall now give a faithful 
account. 

In return to his letter, of October 18. 
1805, in which he obligingly expresses " his 
" readiness to answer any queries which I 
" might propose to him on the subject," I 



212 ON THE AUTHENTICITY 

wrote to him, and pointed out to him a pas- 
sage in one of Dr Smith's letters to Mr Mac- 
kenzie, which is as follows : — " I have to 
" mention," says Dr Smith, " that, on my 
" observing the beauty of one or two pas- 
" sages of these poems, the person who gave 
" it me (Mr Kennedy) said, these were of his 
" own composition. This assertion I then placed 
" to the account of his vanity ; but I think 
" it right to state it to vou as I had it, and 
" leave you to think of it as you please."* 

I then proceeded to state, to Mr Kennedy, 
" how much it concerned his honour to 
" take notice of this charge ; at the same 
" time, strongly expressing my suspicions, 
" that it was, in some measure, well found- 
" ed ; that I did not consider it as impro- 
" bable, that he, versed from his earliest 
" years in the traditional poetry of his coun- 
" try, and smitten with the love of ancient 

* Report of the Committee, App. p. 89. 



OF OSSIAN'S POEMS. 213 

" song, might have been tempted, in the ar- 
" dour of youthful fancy, to imitate Ossian, 
" and to add his own compositions to the 
" collection ; that, if this was indeed the 
" case, as I suspected it to be, it was far 
" more honourable for himself, and even 
" highly proper, in the present state of men's 
" minds on this subject, to come forward, 
" and make a fair acknowledgment of the 
" share which he had in the business, of 
" which I engaged myself to be the vehicle 
" to the public." 

Mr Kennedy, in a letter of the 25th Oc- 
tober, 1805, consisting of fourteen pages 
folio, and containing much extraneous mat- 
ter, which it does not appear necessary, at 
present, to adduce, writes: — " I have still 
" my fears, that it will lead both parties, 
" engaged in this controversy, into a dread- 
" ful warfare ; and that it will give grounds 
" to critics and sceptics to cavil, and will 
" confirm, in part, what they have, for many 



214 ON THE AUTHENTICITY 

" years, laboured to prove, and to admit, 
" that Dr Smith has told the truth, when 
" he avers, 'that both are partly in the right, 
" and partly in the wrong.' But the mate- 
" rial fact ought and will be supported, 'that 
" Fingal fought, and Ossian sung;' and that 
" the latter has immortalized the fame of his 
" father, and of the seven legions, or batta- 
" lions, (seachd cathain na Feinne^) who 
" fought many battles under his sun-beam, 
" or gile-greine. 

" As the rage of both parties must soon 
" subside, a fair division of property ought 
" to take place, and poetical justice distri- 
" buted between Ossian and the fabrica- 
" tors. It will, therefore, be admitted, at 
" least by me, that Macpherson has inter- 
" polated;* that Smith has composed; and 

* " That Macpherson has interpolated" is only a mat- 
ter of opinion ; and the public will judge how far Mr 
Kennedy's opinion should weigh in this matter. Of 
what Dr Smith has done, perhaps he knew something : 



OF OSSIANS POEMS. 215 

" that Kennedy, with much reluctance, is 
" forced to come forward and confess, that 
" he has ventured to make some verses, 
" which perhaps his vanity may deceive 
" him,* but he is inclined to think, ap- 
" proach the nearest to the genuine strains 
" of Ossian that have yet been produced in 
" the Gaelic language. 

" Want of time will not, at present, per- 
" mit me to answer your long and polite 
" letter further, than to glance over it, and 
" to reply to the few queries which you have 
" put to me. The first being, i How far did 
" Dr Smith fabricate the poems which he 
" published under the title of Seandana?' If 
" you will have the goodness to send me 
" the copy you have of what he calls Sean- 



of what he has done himself, he has not formed a just 
estimate. 

* It will be seen, in the sequel, with what justice Mi- 
Kennedy has formed this estimate of his own poetical 
powers. 



216 ON THE AUTHENTICITY 

" dana, composed by Ossian, Orran, Ullin, 
" &c. I will, in so far as I am able to judge, 
" point out to you, distinctly, what of them 
" are Ossian's, what I believe to be the Doc- 
" tor's, and what are mine, on the margin, 
" and return it to you in a fortnight, through 
" any conveyance you please to direct.* It 
" is difficult to discriminate the composi- 
" tions of the different composers any other 
" way distinctly, especially since I want my 
" poems, and have forgot the most of them. 
" I should indeed be glad to have a peru- 

* I have to observe, that I did send my copy of the 
Seandana to Mr Kennedy, within ten days of his writ- 
ing; but so far has he departed from his promise, that I 
got it out of his hands, only a few months ago, after re- 
peated applications. And, after he had retained it for 
more than a year, I find it defaced about half way 
through the volume, with certain dots and marks on the 
margin, to which, it appears, that he had added a key, 
on a blank leaf of the book. But this he cut out, before 
he returned it. What may have been Mr Kennedy's 
motives in all this, I cannot guess, nor is it of much im- 
portance to enquire. 



OF OSSIAN'S POEMS. 21t 

" sal of the three manuscripts, given to the 
" Highland Society, to enable me to quote 
" off every stanza composed by myself; j" as 
" otherwise, after a lapse of more than tvren- 
u ty years, I cannot be correct. I think I 
" do not exaggerate, in supposing, that I 
" have composed about a sixth or a seventh 
" part of what these manuscripts contain. 
" The rest I certainly believe to belong to 
" Ossian, and the other Fingallian Bards, 
" and were picked up by me, from oral tra- 
" dition, from the persons mentioned in my 
" report to the Society. 

" I hope," adds Mr Kennedy, " you will 
" not form the same opinion of me, in de- 
" daring myself a piece of a poet, that Dr 
" Smith has done, or when I, on honour, as- 
" sure you, that the Death of Carril is en- 

t This opportunity Mr Kennedy enjoyed, in 1806; 
having been examined on the subject before a Commit- 
tee of the Highland Society, to whom he gave an ac- 
count, in writing, of every line to which he lays claim. 



218 ON THE AUTHENTICITY 

" tirely my own, which I composed from 
" the story related to me, as annexed to the 
" poem. The most of Bas Ossian I also 
" claim ; and considerable portions of the 
" Death of Diarmid, Goll, Oscair, Garbh, 
" Latha na Leana, Liur, &c. &c. The most 
" of these additions Dr Smith has never 
" seen, being composed in the spring of i785, 
" some years after his translations had been 
" published. 

" The genuine poetry of Ossian," says Mi- 
Kennedy, " is, perhaps, inimitable ; but still 
" a good Gaelic scholar, of a good ear, and 
" well acquainted with his imagery, and the 
" qualifications and names of his favourite 
" heroes, and professed enemies, may com- 
" pose verses approximate to the excellence 
" of the original, and which not one in a 
" thousand will be able to distinguish from 
" the real. It is this that has given rise 
u to so much dispute, and been productive 
" of so many fabrications." 



OF OSSIAN'S POEMS. 219 

Such are the confessions of Mr Kennedy, 
a gentleman, beyond question, well versed 
in the Gaelic language, and whose idiom 
was never contaminated by any other lan- 
guage than the English. These confessions 
he has repeated, with additions, in his exa- 
mination before a Committee of the Highland 
Society of Scotland. 

The confessions of Mr Kennedy, it must 
be acknowledged, appear, at first sight, to 
furnish a strong presumption, that much of 
the poetry, which has been ascribed to Os- 
sian, is also a modern fabrication. If Mr 
Kennedy can compose poetry, which, to use 
his own expression, " not one in a thousand 
" will be able to distinguish from the real" 
strains of Ossian, why might not Mr Mac- 
pherson, a man of far higher acquirements, 
do the same ? 

That Mr Kennedy, by interspersing, a- 
mongst his own compositions, some verses 



220 ON THE AUTHENTICITY 

and phrases, borrowed from truly ancient 
and genuine poetry, with which it appears 
his memory was stored, may have produced 
pieces, in which there now and then occur a 
few truly Ossianic verses and expressions, is 
not denied ; and it is possible, that he may 
not himself have been conscious of the pla- 
giarism which he committed. But that, be- 
sides this occasional merit, the poems, which 
he has now claimed as his, possess any thing 
else, which might " approximate" them, in 
the slightest degree, to the Ossianic poetry, 
translated by Mr Macpherson, will be main- 
tained only by the self complacency of the 
author. I must add, that the entire failure 
of Mr Kennedy, in imitating the strains of 
Ossian, affords the most complete example, 
that could be adduced, of the insuperable 
difficulty of rivalling the Caledonian bard. 
It is a very easy matter for Mr Kennedy, 
or for any man, to say, " I have invoked 



OF OSSIAN'S POEMS. 221 

" the spirit of Ossian ; I have been heard, 
" and inspired." This is just Owen Glen- 
dower's 

" I can call spirits from the vasty deep." 

" Why, so can 1" (says Hotspur,) " or so can any man ; 
" But will they come when you do call for them ?"f 

Concerning the answer to Mr Kennedy's 
invocation, let us now enquire. I shall take 
the two first pieces, which he claims in his 
letter, Carril and Bas Ossian, which, be- 
sides being the first in the order of the au- 
thor, are probably also the highest in merit, 
from the circumstance of their having been 
selected by the learned Chairman of the So- 
ciety's Committee, in his report, as speci- 
mens of Mr Kennedy's Collection. As this 
is a point of much consequence to our argu- 
ment, it is proposed to enter into a short 
analysis of these pieces, 

t Shakespeare's Henry IV. act iii. scene I. 



222 ON THE AUTHENTICITY 



1. Mr Kennedys Poem of Carril. 

With regard to the poem of Carril,* Mr 
Mackenzie observes, " that, with a simpli- 
" city bordering upon rudeness, it is ex- 
" tremely striking in the Gaelic; but very 
" difficult to be translated. It is given en- 
" tire," adds he, " in the Appendix, No. £% 
" in Kennedy's own orthography, and with 
" the preamble, or argument, with which he 
" accompanied the copy he sent to the Com- 
" mittee, literally given. From the first, the 
" Gaelic scholar may form an opinion of the 
" collection ; from the second, the English 
" reader may estimate the literary abilities of 
" the collector." 

I may be permitted to observe, that the 
learned reporter has judged well. This poem, 
with its argument, appears to furnish a very 

* See Report, App. p. 336. 



OF OSSIAN'S POEMS. 223 

just criterion, by which we may judge of 
Mr Kennedy's powers. Of the argument, 
I shall say nothing; perhaps the extracts, 
which have been given of his letters, may 
suffice on this head. 

As to Mr Kennedy's original Gaelic, it 
will not be difficult to prove, that it bears 
upon itself the manifest stamp of modern 
composition. The character of modern Gae- 
lic poetry is well enough known. To pile 
up a string of epithets ; to range, in succes- 
sion, a row of adjectives, or verbs, of nearly 
synonimous import, constitutes, in the taste 
and judgment of our modern composers, the 
perfection of Gaelic song. It is not one 
line only, which is occupied with this un- 
meaning amplification ; but the 

** Monstrum horrendum, informe, ingens" 

stalks along through whole quatrains. I re- 
fer, for examples, which it were needless 
here to adduce, to all the late collections of 



224 ON THE AUTHENTICITY 

Gaelic poems and songs, from Macdonald's 
to Macintyre's, not excepting the modern 
parts of Gillies' Perth Collection. This fal- 
setto in style, so totally unknown in the ge- 
nuine strains of Ossian, is the characteristic 
of modern Gaelic poetry ; and it is the cha- 
racter of the " Death of Carril," and, in a 
great measure, of " the Death of Ossian ;" 
the former of which Mr Kennedy, in his 
letter, claims entirely as his ; and the latter, 
in the greatest part. 

As an instance of Mr Kennedy's (probably 
unconscious) plagiarism, I observe, in the 
third stanza of Carril, 

" Clachan agus talamh trom, 

" Thrcachailte le 'm buinn le stri ;" 

That is, 



" Stones and heavy earth 

" Were dug up by their heels in strife." 

Almost the veiy same words occur in a 



OF OSSIAN'S POEMS. 225 

poem of unquestionable antiquity, the " Fi- 
" onn and Manos" of the Perth Collection, 
p. 23., and in the copy I took down of R. 
Macneill's recitation of the same poem. In 
these last, it is, 

" Bha clachan agus talamh trom, 
« Mosgladh fuidh spairn an cos; 3 

That is, 

u Stones and heavy earth 

" Were moved under the strife of their feet." 

This single instance may furnish a key to 
Mr Kennedy's imitations of Ossian. Where- 
ever a line, or an expression, of any merit 
occurs, it may be easily traced to originals 
of real antiquity, to which Mr Kennedy is 
no stranger. But, wherever he appears as 
an original, he betrays, at once, the charac- 
ter of the Gaelic poetry of the eighteenth] 
century. 



326 ON THE AUTHENTICITY 

Thus, we have, 

St. 5. " They twined, and pulled, and drew."* 

Again : 

St. 7. u Carril, mild, brave, and elegant, 

" Fell breathless under the press of valour; 

" Mischievous, ruinous, barbarous was the stroke." 

8. " My darling, my child, my love !" 

9. " O Carril, my son, my delight !** 
13. " Chearful, courageous, and merry, 

" Wast thou in Teamhra, (Temora,) amongst hun- 
dreds." 
18. " The hero, vigorous, strong, and tall, 
" Is without motion, arms, or dress." 
20. " Hero, mild, chearful, affectionate, 

« Eloquent, strong, active, wounding ;" (or skilled 
to wound.) 

It is presumed, that the simple exhibition of 
these verses will satisfy every person, who 
has felt and admired the beauties of Mr Mac- 

* I do not adopt Dr Donald Smith's translation in the 
Report; it appears to be somewhat ornamented. I trans- 
late literally and faithfully. 



OF OSSIAN'S POEMS. 227 

pherson's translations, of the incalculable 
inferiority of these imitations, if imitations 
they can be called. 

2. The Death ofOssian, by Mr Kennedy. 

Of the " Death of Ossian," a large ex- 
tract is given, by the Committee, in the 
Appendix, No. 20. with this remark, " That 
" it is a beautiful and affecting poem ; but 
" debased by a pretty long passage, which 
" seems evidently an interpolation, contain- 
" ing a piece of ribaldry, put into the mouth 
" of Connar's wife." Taking into account 
the probability, that this interpolation, so 
judiciously rejected by the Committee, is the 
production of Mr Kennedy, I must observe, 
that the greatest part of the specimen of this 
poem, given in the Report, bears undoubt- 
ed marks of antiquity ; and to this it is pre- 
sumed, that Mr Kennedy will lay no claim, 



328 ON THE AUTHENTICITY 

The introduction is precisely the same with 
that of Dr Smith's Diarmid : 

Smith. " Cia tiamhaidh thu n'ochd a ghleann Caotkan, 
" Gun ghuth gaothalr thu, 's 'gun cheol f* 

Kennedy. " 'S tiamhaidh bhi nochd ann gleann Caothan, 
" Gun ghuth gaidhir ann, gun cheol!" 

That is, 

u How mournful to-night is the vale of Cona, 
" Without voice of hound, and without music !" 

Will Mr Kennedy say, that this, and the 
bulk of the remaining part of this specimen, 
is his ? Let it be remembered, that, in his 
letter to me, cited above, he says, " that 
" most of these additions (i. e. Carril, the 
" Death of Ossian, &c.) Dr Smith had never 
"seen, being composed in spring 1785, 
" some years after his (Dr Smith's) transla- 
" tions had been published." But, if Dr 
Smith had never seen them, it was impos- 



OF OSSIAN'S POEMS. 229 

sible that he could have borrowed from them. 
The coincidence can only be accounted for, 
by allowing, that both have derived these 
verses from tradition. 

Still, however, it must be remarked, that, 
even in these verses from " Bas Ossian," Mr 
Kennedy appears to have some claims, suffi- 
ciently marked by a modern hand. He ap- 
pears to have debased this passage, by seve- 
ral interpolations, which declare their author, 
by the same false taste that reigns through- 
out his Carril. He introduces the heroes 

" Musical, elegant, comely, brave, 

" With wine, and conversation, and flesh : 

" Esteemed enough; and we knew not falsehood. 

" The heroes mild, brave, friendly, 

" Of much kindness; and extensive was their fame, 

" Generosity, hospitality," &c„ 

i 

Now, let any person thus take, at ran- 
dom, six verses, from the original of the 
Seventh Book of Temora, and translate it li- 
terally, or freely, at his pleasure, if he can 



f30 ON THE AUTHENTICITY 

produce so bald a piece of poetry, as the 
above, I shall allow, that Mr Kennedy can 
imitate Ossian with some effect. But I 
think it will be granted, by every person of 
just taste, that the specimens adduced are 

« No more like Ossian, 

" Than I to Hercules." 



III. Dr Smith. 

Dr John Smith, now Minister of the Gos- 
pel at Campbelton, a gentleman well known 
to the public for his worth, erudition, and 
knowledge of the Gaelic language, appears 
to have been employed in collecting the an- 
cient poetry of the Highlands nearly about 
the same time with Mr Kennedy. He had 
the use of Mr Kennedy's manuscripts ; and 
there is reason to believe, that he transcribed 
from them, into his own collection, what- 
ever he conceived to possess merit. In 1780, 



OF OSSIAN'S POEMS. 231 

Dr Smith gave this collection to the public, 
in a translation; and, in 1787? he published 
the originals of these translations, in an oc- 
tavo volume of 348 pages, under the title of 
Seandana. It is important, however, to ob- 
serve, that Mr Kennedy, in his letter above 
cited, declares, with regard to his manu- 
scripts, now in the hands of the Highland 
Society, " That Dr Smith had never seen the 
" most of the additions," (in which he claims 
a property,) " having been composed in 
" spring 178.5, some years after Dr Smith's 
" translations had been published." 

Mr Kennedy has, in his letter, directly 
charged Dr Smith as the composer of a part, 
at least, of the Seandana ; and Mr Kennedy 
himself, having avowed the^share which he 
has had in the fabrication of his own collec- 
tion, the charge has, in the minds of many,* 



* See Mr Laing's Dissertation, and Edinburgh Review, 
No. XII. Art. 15. 



232 ON THE AUTHENTICITY 

seemed t. receive considerable confirma- 
tion. 

What share Dr Smith may have had in 
this business, I shall not presume to say. 
Entertaining, as I do, and have always done, 
the highest respect for his well known abi- 
lities and virtues, I took the liberty (24th 
March, 1806,) of addressing him upon the 
subject; — "Intimating to him my intention 
" to publish on the question ; and stating to 
" him the confessions of Mr Kennedy ; his 
" charge against Dr Smith of similar fabri- 
" cation; and his voluntary promise of mark- 
" ing, on the margin of my copy of the Se- 
" andana, what he believed to be Ossian's, 
" what he believed to be Dr Smith's, and 
" what was his own. I suggested, that, as 
" the name of Dr Smith must always hold a 
" respectable rank in the discussion of this 
" question, I should be unavoidably led to 
" introduce it ; and requested, with as much 
" delicacy as I could, that he would have 



OF OSSIAN'S POEMS. 233 

" the goodness to point out to me the man- 
" ner in which I might do so without of- 
" fence." 

Whilst I cannot help regretting, that the 
reverend gentleman declines taking any share 
in this dispute, I hope he will forgive me 
for giving to the public his letter, which I 
had in return to my application : it will be 
found replete with good sense ; and it sug- 
gests a very obvious criterion, by which we 
may judge of the pretended imitations of 
Mr Kennedy, or of any other person what- 
ever. 

Campbelton, 28th April, 1806. 
" REVEREND SIR, 

" On the subject of your 
letter, which I have but now received, I 
have long ago said all I have to say, and 
take no further concern in the question. 
If any allege he passed on me as ancient 
poetry what was his own composition, I have 
no interest in disputing his allegation. If 



234 ON THE AUTHENTICITY 

I had, I would try if he could write such verses 
as he claims, (no doubt the best,) on any other 
given subject ; and examine whether these pas- 
sages were not furnished by a dozen or score 
of other contributors. Unfortunately for me, 
not only one, but every contributor, dead or 
alive, must renounce his right, before I can 
take the merit of a verse or line, if vanity 
do not prompt me to take the contribution 
of such as are dead, and unable to dispute 
my claim. But this, I think, I shall leave to 
others ; and, if they claim the translation, as 
well as the original, I will not dispute it, 
nor care who may believe, and who may 
doubt. The stopping of my plough, by a 
shower of rain, now coming on, gives me 
more concern than either. I am glad, how- 
ever, that you find amusement in what once 
amused myself. — I am, Reverend Sir, 

Your most obedient humble servant, 
(Signed) John Smith." 
Dr Graham, Aberfoyte. 



OF OSSIAN'S POEMS. 235 



The reverend gentleman having thus aban- 
doned his publications on this subject with 
such complete indifference, it now appears 
the less necessary to be scrupulous in analy- 
sing their merits. It is well known, that 
Dr Smith's collections of Gaelic poetry met 
with little notice from the public, either in 
the original, or in the translation. He speaks 
feelingly, on this subject, in one of his let- 
ters to Mr Mackenzie : — " The (supposed) 
" profits," he says, " of his publication, were 
" only a serious loss. I could never since," 
he adds, " think of Gaelic poetry with plea- 
" sure, or with patience, except to wish it 
" had been dead before I was born." 

It must, at the same time, be observed, 
that, notwithstanding the great neglect 
with which the public has, from the begin- 
ning, treated the collections of Dr Smith, 
they unquestionably contain many morsels 
of the most exquisite poetry, — pieces as beau- 
tiful, as perfect, and as sublime, as any that 



236 ON THE AUTHENTICITY 

have ever passed through Mr Macpherson's 
hands. Of this, besides the examples which 
have been already adduced, others will be 
brought in the course of this enquiry. 

Whence is it, then, it will naturally be 
asked, that the Ossianic poetry, given by 
Mr Macpherson, has been so universally ad- 
mired ; that it has passed through so many 
editions ; and been translated into so many 
foreign languages ; whilst that published by 
Dr Smith, which exhibits, from time to time, 
compositions of a similar strain, and fre- 
quently of equal merit, are, in a great mea- 
sure, unknown and neglected ? 

There are two circumstances attending 
the collections of Dr Smith, which, it is pre- 
sumed, will sufficiently account for the fate 
which they have experienced. 

1. Dr Smith, on all occasions, translates 
in a careless and slovenly manner; whilst 
Mr Macpherson, though sometimes, as shall 



OF OSSIAN'S POEMS. 237 

be shewn, he translates falsely, and often 
engrafts his own bombastic phrases on the 
simplicity of Ossian, yet adheres closely, for 
the most part, to his original, and often imi- 
tates its sententious brevity with singular 
success. A few examples of Dr Smith's man- 
ner of translating will, it is hoped, place this 
subject in a just point of view. 

A beautiful passage, from the Death of Di- 
armad, is, literally, as follows : — A husband, 
lamenting over his deceased wife, says, 

« Lasting was our abode together, 

" During two generations, that departed like the leaves. 

" The sapling, that the foot would have crushed, 

" Have we beheld, with age, decaying; 

u Streams shifting their channels; 

" Nettles in the abode of mighty kings: 

" Great was our joy ; our days were happy ; 

" To us, the winter was not cold, or the night dark : 

"* Minella was a light that did not wane : 

'* But that ray is now departed." * 

* Seandana, p. 104. 



2$8 ON THE AUTHENTICITY 

This passage Dr Smith thus translates, or 
rather paraphrases : f 

" Many were our days on the heath : we 
f have seen one race, like the leaf of autumn, 
' pass ; we have seen another lift, in its 
i place, its green head, and grow old ; we 
1 have turned away our foot from trees, lest 
' we should crush them in youth, and we 
1 have seen them again decay with years ; 
' we have seen streams change their course, 
1 and nettles growing where feasted kings. 
' All this while, our joy remained, our days 
i were glad. The winter, with all its snow, 
1 was warm ; the night, with all its clouds, 
' was bright. The face of Mjnalla was a 
' light which never knew a wane, an unde- 
1 caying beam around my steps; but now 
' she shines on other lands. When, my 
' love, shall I be with you ?" 

t Gaelic Antiquities, p. 191. 



OF OSSIAN'S POEMS. 239 

Again, on the Death of Armor, in Dan an 
Deirg,* it is, literally, 

« I behold thy father, under his load of years, 

* In vain expecting thy arrival ; 

" His trembling hand on his spear, 

" And his gray, bald, head, like the aspin in the storm. 

u Every cloud deceives his dim eye, 

" As he expects to see thy bark. 

" A gleam of the sun comes across his aged countenance, 

" And he cries out to the youth, ' I behold the vessel!' 

u The children look out towards the main ; 

" They see the mist sailing along. 

e( He shakes his gray head, 

" His sigh is sad, his visage mournful. 

M I behold Crimina, with a faint smile, 
<e Imagining, in her dream, that she sees him on the shore. 
" Her lips, in her slumbers, salute thee ; 
f And with joyful arms she embraces thee. 
" Ah ! young woman, vain is thy dream, 
" The noble hero no more shalt thou behold : 
" Far from his home fell thy love; 
" In Innisfail tarnished is his beauty. 
" Thou shalt awaken, Crimina, 
" And shalt see that thy dream is deceitful. 



* Seandana, p.- 23. 



240 ON THE AUTHENTICITY 

" But when shall he awake from his slumber ? 

" Or when shall the sleep of the grave terminate ?" 

This affecting passage, abounding in truly 
Ossianic imagery and expression, Dr Smith 
thus translates : \ 

" I see his father bending under the load 
" of years ; his hand trembles on the point- 
" less spear, and his head, with its few gray 
" hairs, shakes like the aspen leaf. Every 
" distant cloud deceives his dim eye, as he 
" looks in vain for thy bounding ship. Joy, 
" like a sun-beam on the blasted heath, tra- 
" vels over his face of age, as he cries to the 
" children at their play, ' I behold it coming'.' 
" They turn their eye to the blue wave, and 
" tell him they see but the sailing mist. 
" He shakes, with a sigh, his gray head, and 
" the cloud of his face is mournful. I see 
" Crimoina smiling, in her morning dream ; 
" she thinks thou dost arrive in all thy 

t Gaelic Antiq. p, 111. 



OF OSSIAN'S POEMS. 241 

" stately beauty ; her lips, in half- formed 
" words, hail thee in her dream, and her 
"joyful arms are spread to clasp thee. But 
" alas, Crimoina, thou only dreamest. Thy 
* love is fallen, never more shall he tread the 
** shore of his native land. In the dust of 
" Inisfail his beauty sleeps. Thou shalt 
" awake from thy slumber, Crimoina, to 
" know it. But when shall Armor awake 
" from his long sleep? When shall the heavy 
" slumber of the tenant of the tomb be end- 
"ed?" 

I shall add only one other short example 
of Dr Smith's mode of translating. 

In the Seandana, p. 112, we have, liter- 
ally, 

" I will not listen to the song of the thrush, 

" In the fine morning of the first season, (i. e. May.) 

Dr Smith translates, (p. 197.) 

" It (i. e. my grief,) will not listen to all 
" the larks that soar in the lowly vale, when 
Q 



242 ON THE AUTHENTICITY 



" the dewy plains rejoice in the morning of 



" summer." 



It were easy to multiply instances of the 
loose and paraphrastic manner in which Dr 
Smith translates these fragments : they oc- 
cur in every page ; and it is not wonderful, 
that, in such translations, the public has not 
recognized the spirit of Ossian. But, I ob- 
serve, 

2. That the great and leading circumstance, 
in the general neglect which this collection 
has experienced, is, that, with many frag- 
ments of unquestionable beauty and merit, 
and which bear upon them the genuine 
stamp of antiquity, the volume consists, in 
a great measure, of modern fabrications and 
interpolations. I shall not attempt to say in 
what manner, or by what persons, these 
have been introduced. Perhaps it may be 
enough to call to recollection the well-known 
and acknowledged circumstance, that Dr 



OF OSSIAN'S POEMS. 243 

Smith borrowed a great proportion of his 
collection from Mr Kennedy's manuscripts, 
such, at least, as they were prior to 1785, 
when, as in their last stage, they were, no 
doubt, filled with much of his own spurious 
verse. It is also not improbable, were we 
warranted to judge from Dr Smith's transla- 
tions, that he may have been led to deter- 
mine hastily, concerning the merits of some 
of the poems which he has published; and, 
regulating our opinion by the same criterion, 
it seems almost certain, that he has seldom 
employed the same labour, and judgment, 
and taste, in arranging his editions of these 
poems, as Mr Macpherson appears almost 
always to have done. 

Be this as it may, it is undeniable, that 
though there are fragments, of the greatest 
beauty and elegance, to be met with, occa- 
sionally, in this collection, the poems are, 
upon the whole, of such unequal merit ; and 
the incongruous shreds of ancient and mo- 



244 pN THE AUTHENTICITY 

dern composition are so clumsily patched 
together, that no person can, with patience, 
peruse any one of them from the beginning 
to the end. 

Considering the great merit of many pas- 
sages in the Seandana, and no doubt, too, of 
some passages in Mr Kennedy's manuscripts, 
it may be permitted to remark, by the way, 
that it were worth while to purge the vo- 
lume of the interpolations of modern fabri- 
cators, and to preserve only what appears, 
on good grounds, to be unquestionably an- 
cient. Nor would this be a very difficult 
task. Mr Kennedy has already given a 
pretty sufficient key to what he claims as- 
his ; and it would not be difficult, with the 
exercise of a little critical acumen, (could one 
resolve to wade through this volume,) to as- 
sign to every other modern his proper share. 
It is true, the volume would be reduced, by 
this refining process, by more than one-half 
of its contents ; but the remainder, acconv 



OF OSSIAN'S POEMS. 245 

panied by a faithful translation, would be 
found to be of sterling value. 

Thus we are enabled, in some degree, to 
form an estimate of the part which has 
been taken by the only collectors of Gaelic 
poetry, besides Mr Macpherson, whose names 
have obtained any celebrity in this question. 
What Mr Kennedy claims, so far as the jus- 
tice of his claims can be ascertained, is, com- 
pared with what Mr Macpherson has produ- 
ced, the very bathos of Gaelic poetry. Da- 
Smith's volume, notwithstanding many ex- 
quisite reliques of ancient poetry, which it 
undoubtedly contains, is, from some cause 
or other, f nearly intolerable. And now, 
with regard to Mr Macpherson, the most re- 
spectable evidence can be adduced of his 
comparative ignorance of the Gaelic lan- 

f One of these causes we are enabled to ascertain, — his 
hasty adoption of the materials of Mr Kennedy's manu- 
scripts. 



846 ON THE AUTHENTICITY 

guage. In his knowledge of the idiom of 
this tongue, he appears to have been far in- 
ferior to Dr Smith, and even to Mr Kenne- 
dy, the author of Carril ; and yet we have, 
through the hands of Mr Macpherson, be- 
sides some smaller fragments of Gaelic poetry, 
the whole of the Seventh Book of Temora 
(as he has chosen to denominate that poem) 
in the original, consisting of four hundred 
and twenty-three lines, in a style of classical 
chasteness, of elegant and harmonious versi- 
fication, and of sublime sentiment and ima- 
gery, which boldly challenges the keenest 
eye of criticism. This precious fragment of 
Ossianic verse, whilst it may be truly consi- 
dered as inferior only to a book of the Iliad 
or Odyssey, is, in our present circumstances, 
with regard to the originals, almost the only 
portion of this ancient poetry which is a fair 
object of critical investigation. 

To develope this part of the argument, so 
important in the present question, and to 



OF OSSIAN'S POEMS. 247 

state, as far as it is now practicable, the 
powers of Mr Macpherson, together with the 
part that he has taken in the translation and 
publication of a work, from which he deri- 
ved his fame and fortune, will form the re- 
maining part of this discussion. 



248 ON THE AUTHENTICITY 



SECTION IX. 

Mr Macpherson's Collections of Gaelic Poetry. — E«r- 
ly Suspicions of their Authenticity. — Strengthen- 
ed by some Expressions used by Mr Macpherson, 
— Estimate of his Abilities. — His Highlander, 
and his Translation of Homer. 

Of all the collections of Gaelic poetry 
which have, at different periods, been made, 
that of James Macpherson, Esq. has deser- 
vedly excited the greatest interest ; and, as 
it was the first, in point of time, so it still 
continues to occupy the foremost rank, in 
point of intrinsic value. The poems them- 
selves, which he has given us, are far more 
considerable in their extent, more finished 
in their structure, and of far purer style and 



OF OSSIAN'S POEMS. 249 

imagery than those which have been given 
by Dr Smith. 

Mr Macpherson, indeed, in collecting 
these poems, enjoyed advantages which have 
not been, nor can ever henceforth be, enjoy- 
ed by any person, who engages in a simi- 
lar undertaking. He began his researches 
twenty years earlier than any other collec- 
tor ; before that generation had yet passed 
away, in whose memory the knowledge and 
admiration of Gaelic poetry was still fresh. 
He travelled, by a most extensive route, 
through the Highlands and islands, support- 
ed by a liberal subscription of the friends of 
Celtic literature ; and he was introduced 
everywhere to the gentlemen and clergy of 
the Highlands, by the patronage and recom- 
mendation of the eminent names of Dr Blair, 
Dr Robertson, Dr Carlyle, and Mr Home. 
Under such favourable auspices, it was not 
surprising that Mr Macpherson succeeded in 
obtaining almost all that was valuable in 



250 ON THE AUTHENTICITY 

the tradition, or written records of Gaelic 
poetry. To subsequent collectors, such as 
Dr Smith and Mr Kennedy, who engaged 
in this undertaking at a later period, on the 
limited scale of their own abilities and in- 
fluence ; and in the narrow circle, to which 
they had personal access, he left, as might 
have been expected, only a few meagre 
gleanings; some of which, however, are of 
unquestionable antiquity, and of undeniable 
merit. 

From the high rank which Mr Macpher- 
son's collections have been allowed to hold 
in the scale of poetic merit, contrasted with 
the supposed state of society in which they 
were said to have been composed, and the 
long period through which they were said 
to have been handed down by oral tradition, 
suspicions of their authenticity came natu- 
rally to be entertained; especially by persons 
who were unable, or unwilling, to take into 
consideration the circumstances, which have 



OF OSSIAN'S POEMS. 251 

been pointed out in the ancient history and 
manners of our Celtic ancestors. 

Mr Macpherson himself, having, by cer- 
tain expressions which have dropped from his 
pen, contributed, in some measure, to give 
additional strength to these suspicions, 
though perhaps without any such design, it 
may be proper here, shortly, to trace the share 
which he has had in these collections, as far 
as this can now be done, not in the manner of 
Mr Laing, by gratuitous inference and vague 
conjecture ; but by an analysis of what has, 
by himself and others, been long ago made 
public to the world. 

It appears, from the notices which have 
been given us of Mr Macpherson's charac- 
ter, by those who knew him best, that he 
was a man of an ardent and impatient spirit. 
Mr Hume charges him with pride and ca- 
price.* He calls him " a strange and hete- 

* Committee's Report, p. 5. 



252 ON THE AUTHENTICITY 

" roclite mortal, than whom he never knew 
" a man more perverse and unamiable."* It 
appears, at the same time, that Mr Macpher- 
son possessed a very considerable degree of 
literature; and that he had been actuated, 
from a very early period, with an eager pas- 
sion for literary fame.f Born in a remote 
corner of the Highlands of Scotland, he ap- 
pears to have entertained, from his youth, a 
high admiration of the traditional poetry of 
his country. In his Dissertation on the An- 
tiquity of Ossian's Poems, prefixed to his 
first volume, he tells us, that " though he 
" admired the poems, in the original, very 
" early, and gathered part of them from tra- 
61 dition, for his own amusement, yet he 
" never had the smallest hope of seeing 
" them in an English dress." Dr Blair, ac- 
cordingly, in his letter to Mr Mackenzie, 

* Committee's Report, p. Q. 

t See, in the Report, the letters of Mr Home, Dr 
Carlyle, &c. 



OF OSSIAN'S POEMS. 253 

testifies, " that, even after Mr Macpherson 
" had gratified Mr John Home with the 
" translation of two fragments of ancient 
" Gaelic poetry, which were highly admi- 
" red, when the Doctor urged him to trans- 
" late the other pieces which he had, and 
" bring them to him, he was extremely reluc- 
" tant and averse to comply with his request; 
" saying, that no translation could do jus- 
" tice to the spirit and force of the original ; 
" and that, besides injuring them by transla- 
" tion, he apprehended, that they would be 
" very ill relished by the public, as so very 
" different from the strain of modern ideas, 
" and of modern connected and polished 
" poetry. It was not," adds he, " till after 
" much and repeated importunity, that I 
" prevailed upon him," &c.| 

Anxious as he appears to have been, from 
an early period, to acquire literary reputa- 

■f See Report, Append, p. 56. 



254 ON THE AUTHENTICITY 

tion, he published, about 17^8, a poem, en- 
titled, The Highlander, the remembrance of 
which has been revived in the present con- 
troversy, by the industry of Mr Laing The 
work itself had sunk into oblivion immedi- 
ately on its first publication ; and, notwith- 
standing many excellencies which it unques- 
tionably possesses, and of which a very na- 
tural account may be given, it will probably 
be admitted by his warmest friends, that the 
sentence of the public was, in this instance, 
just. 

In about four years afterwards, Mr Mac- 
pherson having travelled, as has been said, 
into the Highlands, under the patronage of 
some persons of distinction and taste, for the 
purpose of collecting Gaelic poetry, gave to 
the world, successively, the poems of Fin- 
gal and Temora, with some lesser pieces of 
similar merit ; and, if we attend to this pro- 
gress, we shall, it is presumed, find it diffi- 
cult to conceive, that he should thus emerge 



OF OSSIAN'S POEMS. 255 

at once from the mediocrity of the neglected 
Highlander, to all the acknowledged splen- 
dour of genius, which is displayed in the 
poetry ascribed to Ossian. 

MrLaing remarks, very justly, on this sub- 
ject, that the style and imagery of the Fin- 
gal occur in every page of the Highlander. 
But what is the inference which should follow 
from this remark? Is it not, that Mr Macpher- 
son, when he wrote his Highlander, with a 
mind amply stored with those ancient poems, 
which, as he himself tells us, " he had admi- 
" red in the original very early, and part of 
" which he had gathered from tradition, for 
" his own amusement," — was naturally led 
to transfer to his work those images and ex- 
pressions, which, in the poetry of his coun- 
try, had taken such a powerful hold of his 
youthful fancy ? What is more natural than 
that Macpherson, deeply enamoured of this 
poetry, " which he had never the smallest 
" hope of seeing in an English dress ;" and 



256 ON THE AUTHENTICITY 

to which he was convinced " that no transla- 
" tion could do justice," should, however, avail 
himself, as much as he could, of his acquaint- 
ance with it, in his own poetical effusions ? 

Mr Macpherson seems uniformly to have 
mistaken his own powers, when he attempt- 
ed an original work ; but when he did make 
the attempt, with a mind deeply tinctured 
with the strains of Ossian, might it not have 
been expected that he should transfuse some 
of their beauties into his performance ; and 
even that the poetry which had been the de- 
light of his early years, should give its tone 
and colouring to every page that he wrote ? 

Will it here be argued with Mr Laing, 
that, " with a taste somewhat more matured," 
he transferred the beauties of the Highland- 
er into his Ossian, and thus forced the pub- 
lic to peruse his neglected poem, as Sterne 
obliged the world to read his sermon, by 
making Corporal Trim the rehearser of it? 
Mr Laing knows very well that this is not, 



OF OSSIANS POEMS. 257 

nor has it been, the ordinary developement 
and progress of genius. It appears from the 
history of literature, that the Jirst efforts of 
a mind, powerfully seized with the idea of 
a favourite subject, have ever been the most 
vigorous, and the most successful. Homer 
composed his immortal Iliad, before he 
" slumbered 1 ' over the Odyssey ; and the 
Paradise Lost had exhausted the genius of 
Milton, before he sat down to compose his 
Paradise Regained. 

The success of Mr Macpherson's transla- 
tions of the poetry ascribed to Ossian was 
very great. The sensation which was pro- 
duced in the minds of literary men, was, in 
the highest degree, striking. That there 
should have existed such a body of truly 
classical verse amongst the Highlanders of 
Scotland, and that it should have been hand- 
ed down through so many ages of barba- 
rism, was undoubtedly new, and well cal- 
culated to excite suspicion, as well as sur~ 

R 



258 ON THE AUTHENTICITY 

prise. In the mean time, these poems were 
translated again into several foreign lan^ 
guages; the illustration of their beauties oc- 
cupied several eminent critics ; and, what 
was to Mr Macpherson of the greatest con- 
sequence, his fortune and independence were 
established. 

It has been alleged, that Mr Macpherson 
has, by several insinuations thrown out in 
his later years, seemed to claim these poems 
as his own. This idea, however, we can as- 
certain not to have been in his mind in 1762, 
when he says in his Dissertation, " That his 
" translation is literal; and that the transla- 
" tor, as he claims no merit from his ver- 
" sion, wishes that the imperfect semblance 
" which he draws, may not prejudice the 
" world against an original, which contains 
" what is beautiful in simplicity, or grand 
" in the sublime." 

In an advertisement prefixed to Fingal, he 
tells us, " that some men of genius advised 



OF OSSIAN'S POEMS. 259 

*'■' him to print the originals by subscription, 
" rather than deposit them in a public li- 
" brary." I have accordingly seen, in the 
London Magazine, (on which I cannot now, 
however, lay my hands) for the year j 784, or 
1785, an advertisement, published on the oc- 
casion of the indecent controversy between 
Dr Johnson and Mr Macpherson, by Becket, 
the bookseller in the Strand, certifying, that 
the originals of Ossian had lain at his shop for 
subscription at some former period (as far as I 
recollect, 1774, or 1775) for the space of a 
whole year; but that the number of subscrip- 
tions being inadequate to the expence of publi- 
cation, the manuscripts had been withdrawn. 
Becket, it is true, was no judge of the ori- 
ginality of those manuscripts. But the cir- 
cumstance proves, that, at that period, Mr 
Macpherson was disposed to give what he 
called the originals of Ossian to the public. 
And can it be supposed, that, in London, 
where there were then, as there are still, 



260 ON THE AUTHENTICITY 

many learned Highlanders, well versed in the 
language and antiquities of their country, 
and rendered anxious, by recent circum- 
stances, for the honour of their national 
poetry, Mr Macpherson would have ventu- 
red to expose, during so long a period, a 
mass of spurious verse, as the genuine pro- 
duction of the Celtic Bard ? 

Mr Macpherson appears, however, at an 
early period, after the success of his transla- 
tions had been ascertained, to have allowed 
some expressions to escape him, which have 
given rise to suspicions of fabrication, and 
which have been understood to imply an in- 
tention of appropriating this poetry to him- 
self. After the strong and pointed assertions 
of their originality, which he had advanced 
in his prefaces and dissertations prefixed to 
the earlier editions, it was a matter of much 
delicacy, and of some risk, to attempt to 
turn the tide of public opinion from Osslan 
to the author of the Highlander. Without 



OF OSSIAN'S POEMS. 261 

pretending to guess the extent of his mean- 
ing, I find it necessary to examine those ex- 
pressions of his, which have been represent- 
ed by Mr Laing and others, as evidences of 
his attempt to claim this poetry as his own. 

Mr Macpherson, in one passage, throws 
out the idea, " that those, who have doubt- 
" edhis veracity, have paid a compliment to 
" his genius ; and even were the allegation 
" true," he adds, " my self-denial might have 
" atoned for my fault. / can assure my anta- 
" gonists, that I should not translate xvhat I 
" could not imitate." And again, in a simi- 
lar vein, he says, " the translator, who can- 
" not equal his original, is incapable of ex- 
" pressing its beauties." 

Without undertaking to ascertain the full 
extent of Mr Macpherson's meaning, in 
these pretensions, just criticism and truth 
require, that I should observe, that he him- 
self has fortunately put it into our power to 
estimate his abilities as a translator, bv a 



262 ON THE AUTHENTICITY 

very unequivocal test. In his miserable 
translation of Homer, he has enabled us to 
form a fair judgment of these pretensions; 
and it may not appear improbable, that the 
name of a man, who had never produced 
any acknowledged work of merit, would have 
been buried, long ere now, with his own 
Highlander, had not Ossian lent " his arm 
" of might" to rescue him from the gulf. 

I would by no means be understood to 
detract from the merits of Mr Macpherson, 
or to maintain, that he had formed any deli- 
berate design of appropriating this poetry to 
himself. Mr Macphersons merits, compar- 
ed with that of the persons who followed 
him, were immense, both as an indefatigable 
collector, and as a spirited and elegant trans- 
lator. But it is to be regretted, that in 
some moments of that caprice, which has 
been ascribed to him by those who knew 
him well, he should have been tempted to 
allow any expression to escape him, which 



OF OSSIAN'S POEMS. 263 

could be interpreted, by the most remote 
implication, as claiming this poetry as his 
own. As such expressions, however, occur 
in his later publications, it appears indispen- 
sibly necessary, on this occasion, to advert 
to them. 

" Without increasing his genius," says Mr 
Macpherson, in one of his prefaces, " the 
" author may have improved his language, 
" in the eleven years that the poems have 
" been before the public. Errors in diction 
" may have been committed at twenty-four, 
" which the experience of a riper age may 
" remove, and some exuberances of imagery 
" may be restrained with advantage, by a 
" degree of judgment acquired in the pro- 
" gress of time. In a convenient indiffer- 
" ence to literary fame, the author hears 
" praise without being elevated, and ribald- 
" ry without being depressed. The writer's 
" first intention was to have published in 
" verse ; and as the making of poetry may 



264 ON THE AUTHENTICITY 

" be learned by industry, he had served his 
" apprenticeship, though in secret, to the 
f{ Muses." 

This language, it must be admitted, seems 
to involve an avowed claim to these Poems, 
on the part of Mr Macpherson ; and so, no 
doubt, it has been understood by a great 
part of the public. That he should speak 
thus explicitly of himself, as the author, 
and that he should talk of " restraining ex- 
" uberances of imagery," which is the proper 
province of the author, appears to be a style 
ill suited to the office of a mere translator, 
whose duty it is to adhere to his original, 
and to give a faithful representation of it, 
without detraction or embellishment. 

We are enabled, however, from other un- 
questionable specimens, to form a tolerably 
just estimate of Mr Macpherson's powers, 
and of his pretensions, should he be deemed 
to have made any, to that body of poetry 
which he has ushered into the world. When 



OF OSSIAN'S POEMS. 265 

we consider the rest of his literary efforts, 
with an impartial eye, it is presumed, that 
they will all be found to exhibit an inferio- 
rity of genius, and a mediocrity of talent, 
altogether unequal to the splendid poetry 
which, under the name of Ossian, has at- 
tracted the admiration of Europe. 

Of his Highlander, we have spoken al- 
ready. Conscious, it would seem, after the 
fate of that poem had been sealed, of the 
precise extent of his own powers, he never 
appears afterwards to have soared above the 
humble department of a collector and com- 
piler of the works of others. To collect 
and arrange the papers of the House of 
Stuart, and to collect and translate the 
poetry of the Highlands of Scotland, were 
efforts of the same kind, and w T hich required 
precisely the same turn of mind. 

He says, "that the making of poetry may 
iC be learned by industry;" and informs us, 



266 ON THE AUTHENTICITY 

" that he had served his apprenticeship, 
" though in secret, to the Muses." But it 
may be asked, whether the poetry of the 
Highlander was a " secret" to the world ? 
And, even though Mr Macpherson found it 
no difficult matter " to make such poetry," 
will it be alleged, that the fire of genius, 
without which verse is not poetry, is to be 
acquired by industry f 

Dr Johnson has said well, in a letter ad- 
dressed to Mr Macpherson, " Your abilities, 
" since your Homer, are not so formidable." 

Indeed, there is nothing which serves to 
set Mr Macpherson's character and powers 
in a stronger light, than his egregious at- 
tempt to render the great Father of Poetry 
into prose, however natural it might have 
been for him to have made this attempt, af- 
ter his success in doing the same office to 
Ossian. But here the public had before 
them the unrivalled original, with an ele- 



OF OSSIAN'S POEMS. 26? 

gant translation by Pope ; and Mr Macpher- 
son's prose was immediately dispatched to 
the same shades which had, long ago, over- 
whelmed his Highlander. 

How, it will naturally be asked, has he 
succeeded so well in his translation of Os- 
sian, whilst he, who " would not deign to 
" translate what he could not imitate, or 
" even equal" has failed so miserably in his 
translation of Homer? The solution is easy. 
The public had not the original of Ossian 
before them ; nor had they another transla- 
tion, by which they might have been en- 
abled to form a comparative estimate. They 
were, therefore, under the necessity of re- 
ceiving Ossian in the dress, and under the 
form, in which he was presented to them ; 
and it has happened, that his intrinsic merit 
has supported him, even under the disad- 
vantages of a translation. Let us put the 
case, that the poetry of Homer had been 



f©8 ON THE AUTHENTICITY 

presented to us under the same circum- 
stances ; the original lost, or withheld, and 
nothing remaining to us but Mr Macpher- 
son's translation, still there is no doubt 
that Homer, even thus mutilated and disgui- 
sed, would have commanded the respect 
that is due to his transcendent genius. 

Add to all this, that it is hoped it will 
be made to appear, in the sequel of this ar- 
gument, that Mr Macpherson, in his transla- 
tion, has also done injustice to Ossian; and 
that, when certain writers have amused them- 
selves with criticising some phrases and 
images, which occur in his work, it is not 
Ossian, but his translator, who is the subject 
of their animadversion. Though this, in- 
deed, is a topic which cannot receive its full 
weight, till we have before us the whole ori- 
ginals, or a translation, on the fidelity of 
which we can rely, still, it may be observed, 
that we are already in possession of suffi- 



OF OSSIAN'S POEMS. 269 

cient materials, to enable us to judge of the 
internal evidence which these Poems afford 
of their authenticity ; and to conclude, that 
the Gaelic of Ossian has suffered as much 
under Mr Macpherson's hands as the Greek 
of Homer. 



SKI ON THE AUTHENTICITY 



SECTION X. 

Internal Evidence of the Authenticity of these Poems. 
— Exemplified by a literal Translation of the Se- 
venth Book of Temora, published, in the Origi- 
nal, by Mr Macpherson, at an early Period, com- 
pared with his own Translation. — That Mr Mac- 
pherson has, in many instances, in his Translation, 
suppressed and added; and that he has frequently 
misunderstood his Original. — Testimonies of his 
having been but very imperfectly skilled in the 
Gaelic Language. 

The peculiar circumstances in which we 
stand, with respect to the great bulk of the 
Gaelic poetry which has been translated by 
Mr Macpherson, render it extremely difficult 
to form a just estimate of the amount of that 
evidence which might be deduced from the 
style, the manners, and the imagery which 



OF OSSIANS POEMS. 271 

peculiarly characterise these Poems. We 
have the translation before us ; but without 
the original, with which to compare it, it 
appears to be almost impossible to ascertain 
precisely the degree of colouring which it 
may have received from the particular taste, 
the habits of thinking, and the literary ac- 
quirements of the translator. 

Mr Macpherson, in one of the earlier edi- 
tions of these Poems, published the Seventh 
Book of Temora in the original Gaelic, as a 
specimen of the harmony of Ossian's versifi- 
cation, and, at the same time, as an example 
of a new mode of spelling that language, 
which he wished to introduce. It consists 
of four hundred and twenty-three lines. We 
have also, through the hands of Mr Mac- 
pherson, Malvina's Dream, of fifty-seven lines, 
a portion of the Poem of Carrickthura, and 
a few other fragments. Besides these, I 
know of no other of the poems, translated 
by Mr Macpherson, that have been given to 



272 ON THE AUTHENTICITY 

the public, in the original, by himself. But 
I would congratulate the lovers of Celtic li- 
terature, on the prospect that is now afford- 
ed of the publication of the entire originals, 
as left by Mr Macpherson, in the hands of 
the late John Mackenzie, Esq. of the Temple, 
London.* By a printed notice, dated Edin- 
burgh, 1st February, 1806, and signed John 
Sinclair, it is intimated, that these are now 
to be published, under the auspices of a Com- 
mittee of the Highland Society of London, 
consisting of Sir John Sinclair himself, Sir 
John Macpherson, Sir John Macgregor Mur- 
ray, and others well qualified for this office. 



* These originals, it is understood, are all in a modern 
hand, transcribed by Mr Macpherson himself, or by his 
amanuensis. No ancient manuscripts appear, though it 
is certain that he had the use of some which he never 
returned, particularly from the Clanranald family. It is 
not improbable, that, with that caprice which has been 
ascribed to him, he might have destroyed, as he copied 
them ; for to copy and arrange them was necessary, pre- 
vious to his translating them. 



OF OSSIAN'S POEMS. 273 

Even the scanty portions of the original, 
however, which Mr Macpherson has given 
us already, are sufficient to enable us to as- 
certain, with some precision, the share which 
he had in the work ; and when we compare 
them with his own translation, a very singu- 
lar view of the subject presents itself; which, 
considering it as peculiarly important in this 
argument, I shall now beg leave to detail. 

It is very remarkable, that, compared 
with the slovenly translations, or rather pa- 
raphrases, of Dr Smith, a man of acknow- 
ledged literature, an able author of original 
works in English, and well known as an 
eminent adept in the Gaelic language, Mr 
Macpherson far surpasses him as a transla- 
tor. Mr Macpherson frequently represents, 
with great success, the rapid and sententi- 
ous form of the original; and, in general, 
he renders the sense of his author with 
much fidelity. When we take into view 



274 ON THE AUTHENTICITY 

these undeniable merits of Mr Macpherson, 
together with the circumstances in which he 
stood when he produced these translations, 
he must appear, in a great measure, excus- 
able to the public, for any imperfections or 
inaccuracies which may now appear in these 
translations. It could not, surely, enter into 
his mind, that there was any probability that 
further accuracy should ever be required; or 
that the only method of ascertaining the au- 
thenticity of these Poems, which is now with- 
in our reach, should ever be resorted to, — that 
of comparing his translation with the few 
fragments which are now amongst our hands. 
He gave, in general, the meaning of his au- 
thor, with a very tolerable transfusion of his 
spirit. When we take into account the per- 
formances of others, from whom more might 
have been expected, we may, perhaps, be air 
lowed to conclude, that few persons could 
have been able, for the first time, to have of- 



OF OSSIAN'S POEMS. 275 

fered such an elegant translation of Ossian 
as Mr Macpherson has done. 

In the present state of the question, how- 
ever, when the proper, and once familiar, 
evidences of Ossians authenticity are now 
for ever lost, it becomes necessary to have 
recourse to internal characters of truth ; and 
it is hoped, that the warmest friends of Mr 
Macpherson will forgive this investigation, 
which now, alone, is left to us. 

To those who understand the original of 
the few inimitable fragments which have pas- 
sed through Mr Macpherson's hands, there 
can be nothing more evident, than that he is 
the mere translator; and that, with all his 
acknowledged merits, he has often transla- 
ted ill, A striking instance of this has been 
already adduced, in the verses procured by 
Mr S. Cameron, from Highland tradition, 
and transmitted to me by Professor Richard- 
son. And it will appear, in the subsequent 



276 ON THE AUTHENTICITY 

investigation, that, in translating the frag- 
ments, of which he himself has furnished us 
with the original, he has suppressed, or lost, 
many beauties of the Gaelic, both in expres- 
sion and in imagery ; whilst he has unwar- 
rantably added images and expressions, which 
are not there to be found ; additions which, 
without contributing to the beauty of the 
poem, deprive it of its air of simplicity and 
antiquity, and give it the appearance of a 
modern and sophisticated poem. 

But, what is still more decisive, it will ap- 
pear, that he has, on many occasions, mis- 
understood the originals which he had before 
him, and translated falsely. I shall produce 
a striking instance of this, from the frag- 
ment of the Poem of Carrickthura, published 
in the Committee's Report. It is in the de- 
scription of Fingal's celebrated combat with 
the Spirit of Loda. The Spirit having boast- 
ed, that he dwelt, undisturbed, in his plea- 



OF OSSIAN'S POEMS. 277 

sant plains, in the clouds, Fingal thus re- 
plies : 

" Gabhsa comhnuidh na do raoin 

" Thuirt righ nach b y fhaoin, Is a laimh air beairt: 

" Neo cuimhnich Mac Cumhail air raon; 

" 'S lag do thannas ; 's mar mo neart." 

This, with the addition of two words in ita- 
lics, is, literally, 

" Take up thy abode in thy plains of air, 

" Said the not vain (t. e. the valiant) king, with his hand 

on his weapon, 
" Else remember the son of Comhal, on the plain : 
" Feeble is thy shade ; great is my might. 

This whole passage Mr Macpherson trans- 
lates, in these words : — " Dwell in thy plea- 
" sant fields, said the king ; let Comhal's 
" son be forgot." 

Here, it is evident, that Mr Macpherson 
has totally misunderstood the term neo, in 
the third line, and which here signifies else, 
or otherwise; translating it as if it were the 
particle ?ieo, which, compounded with an ad- 



278 OX THE AUTHENTICITY 

jective, has, in Gaelic, the force of the Eng- 
lish particle un, in unfaithful, and converts 
the term, to which it is added, into an oppo- 
site sense. Thus, the adjective ciontach, 
" guilty," with the particle neo prefixed to 
it, (neo-chiontach,) signifies " not guilty, or 
" innocent." In consequence of this egre- 
gious mistake, the translator has completely 
lost the sense of the original, and makes the 
undaunted Fingal solicit a compromise with 
the Spirit of Loda, altogether unworthy of 
his character. It is, as if he had said, " Let 
" me go, and I shall let thee go.'' But to 
make this sense of the passage tolerable, Mr 
Macpherson finds himself under the neces- 
sity of omitting the greatest part of the line 
immediately preceding, and the whole of the 
line which follows. 

This being a topic of the greatest conse- 
quence in this discussion, it is deemed ne- 
cessary, in order to give it its full force, to 
offer a new and literal translation of the Se- 



OF OSSIAN'S POEMS. 279 

venth Book of Temora, compared with that 
which has been given by Mr Macpherson. 
This, in the original, has always appeared to 
me a very perfect and sublime specimen of 
ancient poetry. Though some passages in 
Dr Smith's Seandana are equal to it, in every 
respect, yet there occurs, from time to time, 
in the poems of that collection, a vast infe- 
riority of merit, as might have been expect- 
ed, from the circumstances which have been 
stated. Nothing of this inequality is to be 
found in the Seventh Book of Temora. It 
is beautiful, elegant, and dignified through- 
out. It may be deemed important and in- 
teresting, then, to enter into a critical exa- 
mination of this fragment, as it has been 
given us by Mr Macpherson himself. Mr 
Laing has remarked, with regard to this 
fragment, " that in it the whole mythology 
" of mist is exhibited." I have heard of the 
mythology of the Egyptians, and of the 
Greeks, and of various nations; but must 



280 ON THE AUTHENTICITY 

confess, that I never heard of " the mytho- 
" logy of mist," and find myself at a loss to 
affix any precise idea to the expression. I 
am ready to allow, however, that a just ap- 
preciation of this important relique of anti- 
quity, in the original, and in Mr Macpher- 
son's translation, may enable us, with much 
effect, to develope some of that mystery, in 
which this subject has been so long in- 
volved. 

It is a wise ordination of Providence, and 
a very fortunate circumstance for society, 
that the line of truth is direct and plain, and 
that every one, who moves in it, advances 
easy and secure ; whilst the line of deceit, of 
falsehood, and of forgery, is the most diffi- 
cult, and the most dangerous. There are few 
of those deeds of darkness that refuse to 
meet the public eye, which have not been 
found to bear upon them certain intrinsic 
characters, which have, at length, betrayed 
the imposture. 



OF OSSIAN'S POEMS. 281 

To this infallible test let the Seventh Book 
of Temora be brought, and, I will add, 
Malvina's Dream, the fragment of Carrick- 
thura, and some of the purer passages of Dr 
Smith's collection; and if, in considering 
these, it can be shewn, that, independently 
of the charms of a very harmonious versifi- 
cation, necessarily lost in the translation, the 
Gaelic is, throughout, the most perfect and 
finished composition ; that it possesses beau- 
ties, which are altogether lost, even in Mr 
Macphersons version ; and is adorned with 
elegancies of imagery and expression, which 
have not been, nor can easily be, transfused 
into another language ; and, above all, if it 
can be shewn, that, in many instances, Mr 
Macpherson has misunderstood, and misin- 
terpreted, the Gaelic, it is presumed, that it 
will not be hastily alleged, with Mr Laing, 
" that Macpherson first wrote his Ossian in 
" English, and that, as he wrote, he transla- 
" ted into Gaelic." 



«82 ON THE AUTHENTICITY 

What, indeed, can be more incredible, 
than that Mr Macpherson should labour the 
Gaelic so much in point of language, and 
imagery, and versification, the greatest part 
of which has not yet, and perhaps never 
shall, meet the public eye, whilst he neglect- 
ed to transfuse so many important beauties, 
there to be found, into his translation, on 
which his fame and fortune immediately de- 
pended ? 

There are, it may be observed, other 
grounds, besides that of frequent mistrans- 
lation, which render it more than probable, 
that Mr Macphefson was only a mean pro- 
ficient in the Gaelic language. Mrs Gallie, 
widow of the late Reverend Mr Gallie of 
Kincardine, in Ross-shire, writes to Charles 
Macintosh, Esq. " that there is not any 
" thing more in her remembrance, than see- 
" ing, with Mr Macpherson, when he re- 
" turned from his tour, the Gaelic manu- 
" scripts described by her husband. She re- 



OF OSSIAN'S POEMS. 283 

" members Macpherson most busy at the 
" translation, and he and Mr Gallie differ- 
" ing as to the yneaning of some Gaelic 
" words."* 

Captain Morison of Greenock, the friend 
and coadjutor of Macpherson, in the trans- 
lation, writes, " that he was intimately ac- 
" quainted with his abilities, and knowledge 
" of the Gaelic language ; he admits, that 
" he had much merit in collecting, and ar- 
" ranging, and translating : but that, so far 
" from composing such poems as were trans- 
" lated, he assisted him often in understand- 
" ing some words, and suggested some im- 
" provements."f 

I have further to state, that the Reverend 
Mr Irvine, now minister at Little Dunkeld, 
in Perthshire, permits me to say, " that 
" Captain Morison was his intimate ac- 



* Report, p. 37. 

f Report, App. p. 177, 



284 ON THE AUTHENTICITY 

" quaintance and friend ; and that he now 
u possesses, in the original manuscript, much 
" of the correspondence which passed be- 
" tween Mr Macpherson and Captain Mori- 
" son, during the progress of the collection 
" and translation of Ossian's Poems;" (which, 
it is to be hoped, Mr Irvine will, some time 
or other, communicate to the public.*) He 
adds, " that Mr Morison assured him, that 
" Mr Macpherson understood the Gaelic 
" language very imperfectly ; that he (Mr 
" Morison) wrote out the Gaelic for him, for 
" the most part, on account of Mr Macpher- 
" son's inability to write or spell it properly; 
" that Captain Morison assisted him much 
" in translating ; and that it was their gene- 



* As every thing which fell from Mr Macpherson's 
pen, on this subject, is interesting, I shall subjoin a 
copy of a letter, which he wrote to his friend Captain 
Morison, in 1789, relating to the perfection of Gaelic 
literature, obligingly communicated by a Reverend 
friend. 






OF OSSIAN'S POEMS. 285 

" ral practice, when any passage occurred, 
" which they did not well understand, either 
" to pass it over entirely, or to gbss it over 
" with any expressions that might appear to 
" coalesce easily with the context." 

So far Mr Irvine. He furnishes a very 
important key to Mr Macpherson's transla- 
tions; and, it will be shewn, that, in trans- 
lating the Seventh Book of Temora particu- 
larly, these gentlemen have too often had 
recourse to this process of skimming over 
the surface, and neglecting to render the 
true sense of the originals before them. 

Considering it as of much importance, 
with regard to this point, to adduce every 
authentic fact that can now be collected, 
with regard to Mr Macpherson's conduct in 
this matter, I beg leave to give an extract 
of a letter, from my esteemed friend Dr 
Duncan Macfarlane, Minister at Drymen, 
(of June 2, 1806,) stating a conversation 



286 ON THE AUTHENTICITY 

which his late father and predecessor, well 
known as an eminent proficient in the Gae- 
lic language, had, at an early period, with 
the translator of Ossian. 

" The conversation," says the Doctor, " be- 
" tween Mr Macpherson and my late father, 
" of which you desire an account, took place 
" in the year 1762. My father had been 
" led to doubt the accuracy of Mr Macpher- 
" son's account of the way in which he ob- 
" tained the materials of what he published 
" as the Poems of Ossian, and even to ques- 
" tion the existence of the ancient manu- 
" scripts, which he pretended to have disco- 
" vered. Meeting him in London, he ear- 
" nestly pressed him to remove these doubts, 
" by publishing all the originals in his pos- 
" session ; adding, ' as I perceive you are 
" very imperfectly acquainted with the Gaelic 
" language, I shall, if you please, procure 
" you the assistance of one of the first Gae- 



OF OSSIANS POEMS. 287 

" lie scholars f in Scotland to revise your 
" manuscript, and correct the press.' Mr 
" Macpherson appeared, at first, disposed to 
" embrace this offer ; but, at their next in- 
" terview, he had changed his mind, and 
" spoke of depositing his papers in some 
" public library." 

The only inference, that it is intended to 
draw from these testimonies, is, that Mr 
Macpherson was imperfectly skilled in the 
Gaelic language ; that, in transcribing and 
translating, he made use of the assistance of 
others, who were better versed in the lan- 
guage than himself, such as Mr Gallie, Cap- 
tain Morison, and Ewan Macpherson, who 
accompanied him through the Hebrides; 



f Besides attesting, that I had the account of the above 
conversation myself, from the late Mr Macfarlane, I can 
add, from my own recollection, and from the testimony 
of his son, that the accomplished Gaelic scholar, whom 
he had in view, was the Reverend Mr Alexander Mac- 
farlane, then minister at Arroquhar, 



288 ON THE AUTHENTICITY 

and hence, that it is impossible, that he 
could be the author even of those scanty, 
but highly finished, fragments of Gaelic 
verse, which he himself has communicated 
to the public. 



OF OSSIAN'S POEMS. 



NOTICE CONCERNING THE FOLLOWING 
TRANSLATION. 

The following translation of the Seventh 
Book of Temora is literal, as far as the ge- 
nius of the different languages will admit. 
There is reason to apprehend, that, in many 
instances, from an earnest endeavour to ren- 
der the sense of the original with fidelity, 
the translation will appear harsh and inele- 
gant ; but it is hoped, that this defect will 
appear to be compensated, in some measure, 
by the precision of the idea, which such a 
translation will afford, of the genius and 
structure of Gaelic verse. It is even hoped, 
that the translator, though translating lite- 
rally, will be found to have sometimes suc- 
ceeded in presenting to the ear some faint 



290 OX THE AUTHENTICITY 

semblance of the harmony of Ossian's versi- 
fication. 

There is, at least, one beauty of the origi- 
nal, which, it is hoped, will be, in some de- 
gree, represented in this translation, by pre- 
serving the distinct structure of the verses 
which is found in the Gaelic, but which is 
entirely lost in the prosaic form of that of 
Mr Macpherson. In the original, we may 
trace throughout, in every couplet, a paral- 
lelism, or balancing, of the sentiment con- 
veyed in the verses, similar to what Dr 
Lowth has pointed out in the sacred poesy 
of the Hebrews, and which is probably com- 
mon to the poetry of every early people. I 
have given some instances of this already, 
(p. 53.) in the verses communicated by Pro- 
fessor Richardson. We meet with this paral- 
lelism throughout this book, except where 
the narration is rapid, as in Fonnar's song, 
ver. 303. Thus, 



OF OSSIAN'S POEMS. 291 

Ver. 34. " Has sleep visited the husband of Clatho? 
" Dwells my father in slumbers ?" 
49. " He struck the shield of resounding boss, 

" The shield that hung high in night." 
1 80. " I have risen, as a light, from the battle, 

" As a meteor of night from the bursting cloud." 

I think, that it is impossible, for any per- 
son of taste, even though unacquainted with 
the original, to compare the balanced coup- 
lets of the literal version, with the curtailed, 
and often unharmonious, prose of Mr Mac- 
pherson ; and to entertain a doubt, whether 
he was the mere translator, or the author of 
this poetry. But even though his version may 
be deemed the most elegant, — and it is not 
denied that it possesses many beauties, — still, 
it is demonstrable, that it is not just; and it 
will be allowed, that nothing can compen- 
sate the want of truth. 

There are a few expressions, which, though 
they convey a very precise idea to the ear of 
a Highlander, it has been found, in many in- 
stances, impossible to translate. The only 



292 ON THE AUTHENTICITY 

expressions of this kind, however, of which 
I shall now take notice, are the characteris- 
tic epithets, which occur so often in this 
Book, and in all Ossian's Poems, nam bolg 
and nan colg. These, indeed, with many 
other expressions, which, from the peculiar 
idiom of the language, it has been found dif- 
ficult to translate, Mr Macpherson has, very 
conveniently, omitted altogether, or satisfied 
himself, according to the practice ascribed 
to him by Mr Morison, " with glossing them 
iC over," by the first easy phrase that occur- 
red. The two expressions already mention- 
ed, though they occur more than twelve times 
in the following poem, have been uniformly 
omitted by Mr Macpherson, except in, I 
think, two instances. 

Colg signifies, literally, " bristles," and is 
used in the poem of Diarmid, in Dr Smith's 
Seandana, to denote the bristles of the boar. 
Connan says : 



OF OSSIAN'S POEMS. 293 

" Tomhais an tore an aghaidh a chuilg :" 

That is, 

" Measure the boar against the bristles." 



'S l 



We find the people of Fingal, in these 
poems, generally styled "NanColg" or "the 
" bristled," probably from the fierceness of 
their looks, and their bristled hair and beards. 
This term, accordingly, has sometimes been 
rendered by " fierce," or " warlike." 

Another race of men, mentioned in these 
poems, particularly those of the south f 
Ireland, and of the southern and eastern 
parts of Caledonia, are styled "Nam Bolg f 
the Bokyot of Pausanias ; and the Belga? of 
the Romans. Bolg, in Gaelic, signifies, li- 
terally, " the belly ed, : ' or " the corpulent," 
and might be applied, as a characteristic 
epithet, to the inhabitants of the richer dis- 
tricts and Lowlands. This, however, is given, 
only in the way of conjecture. 



294 ON THE AUTHENTICITY 

The original Gaelic and the literal trans- 
lation are placed opposite to each other; Mr 
Macpherson's translation is placed at the 
bottom; and a few notes, or observations, 
are subjoined, wherever they appear neces- 
sary. The same marks of reference which 
lead to these notes, are affixed to the paral- 
lel passages in the Gaelic, in the new trans- 
lation, and in that of Mr Macpherson. 

With regard to the edition of the original 
Gaelic which I have used, it may be proper 
to say, that I had it, a great many years ago, 
from the late Reverend Mr Hugh Macdiarmid, 
then minister of the Gaelic Chapel at Glas- 
gow, and afterwards minister of Conirie. 
That gentleman, who was critically skilled 
in the Gaelic language, had felt indignant at 
the novel mode of spelling, which Mr Mac- 
pherson had attempted to introduce ; but 
which he, in common with all who are ac- 
quainted with the Gaelic, considered as de- 
structive of the etymological proprieties of 









OF OSSIAN'S POEMS. 295 

the language. He, therefore, transcribed 
this Seventh Book of Tern or a from Mr Mac- 
pherson's printed copy, into his common 
place book, in the usual orthography. The 
peculiarity of Mr Macpherson's mode of 
spelling consists in the elision of the quies- 
cent letters, and in adapting it to the pro- 
nunciation. 

The translator has onlv to add, that it is 
with some diffidence that he now presents 
this translation to the public, to which that 
of Mr Macpherson has been so long familiar, 
that it has acquired a degree of veneration 
in its eyes. When, however, it is perceived 
how far he has, in many instances, departed 
from his original, how much he has added, and 
how much he has suppressed, it will, perhaps, 
appear desirable to see the venerable Bard di- 
vested of adventitious ornaments, and exhi- 
bited as nearly in his own garb as the genius 
of our language will permit. In such a trans- 
lation, we might hope, that a glimpse might 



296 ON THE AUTHENTICITY, &c. 

be caught of the spirit of Ossian, as he passes 
along, even in the unpropitious garb of a fo- 
reign idiom ; and it might even be presum- 
ed, that many, who are strangers to the lan- 
guage in which these Poems were compos- 
ed, would be induced, by the aid which 
such a faithful version would afford, to cul- 
tivate the tongue in which Fingai spoke, 
and Ossian sung. 

Indeed, were the originals before the pub- 
lic, as it is earnestly hoped they soon shall 
be, a field would be opened up for the hi- 
therto neglected study of Celtic literature, 
which, there can be no doubt, would attract 
the attention of the learned over all Europe. 
And, supposing these originals to be, through- 
out, as perfect and elegant as the piece which 
is now presented, one might even presume 
to foretell, that the language, in which they 
are composed, will be studied in Ossian, long- 
after it has ceased to be vernacular in any 
corner of the British empire. 



THE 

SEVENTH BOOK 

OF 

T E M O R A, 

AN EPIC POEM. 

FIRST PUBLISHED IN 

THE ORIGINAL GAELIC, 

BY JAMES MACPHERSON, ESQ. 

AND NOW 

TRANSLATED LITERALLY, 

WITH 

MR MACPHERSON'S TRANSLATION 

ANNEXED. 

TO WHICH ARE ADDED 

NOTES AND OBSERVATIONS. 



[ 298 ] 



TEMORA, BOOK VIL 



\J Linne doir-choille na Leugo, 
Air uair, eiridh ceo taobh-ghorm nan tonn : 
'Nuair a dhuineas dorsa na ti oicke, 
Air iidair-shuil greine nan speur. 
Domhail mu Lara nan sruth, 
Thaomas duibh neul, as doirche gruaim. 
Mar ghlas sgiath, roimh thaomadh nan trial, 
Snamh seachad tha gealach na h? oiche, 
Le sho eididh taoibhsean o shean, 



MR MACPHERSON S 

From the wood-skirted waters of Lego, ascend, at 
times, gray-bosomed mists, when the gates of the west 
are closed on the sun's eagle-eye. Wide, over Lara's 



[ 299 ] 



LITERALLY TRANSLATED. 



_Trom the pool of wood-skirted Lego, 

At times, ascend the blue-sided mists of the waves: 

When closed are the gates of night, 

On the eagle-eye of the sun of the skies. 

Swelling around Lara of streams, 5 

Pour black clouds of darkest gloom : 

Like a gray shield, before the bursting of the clouds, 

Swims along the moon of night. 

With this invest the ghosts, of old, 



TRANSLATION. 

stream, is poured the vapour, dark and deep. The 
moon, like a dim shield, is swimming through its folds. 
With this clothe the spirits of old 



SOO TEMORA, BOOK VII. 

An dhi-ghkus* ameasg na gaoith. 10 

Siad a leumnich o' osnadh gn osnadh. 

Air dubh agliaidh oiche nan sian. 

Ann taobh oiteig, gu paluin nan seod, 

Taomidh iad ceathach nan speur ; 

Gorm-thalla do iliannais nach beo, 15 

Gu am eiridhfonn marhh rami nan teud. 

Tha torman am machair nan crann : 



MR MACPHEKSON S 

their sudden gestures,* on the wind, when they stride 
from blast to blast, along the dusky night, often blende 
with the gale, to some warrior's grave, they roll the 



* Besides remarking in Mr Macpherson's translation of the 
above passage, that though he, upon the whole, renders the sense 
of the original with tolerable fidelity, he, at the same time, loses, 
and, from apparent hurry, suppresses many elegant images, I must 
observe, particularly, that the expression, " sudden gestures," by 
which he translates " dlu-ghleus," is as devoid of meaning, as it 
is foreign to the sense of the original. The expression, in the ori- 
ginal, evidently alludes to a mythology, (for there is a mythology 
in Ossian of a very appropriate kind,) which was well known to 
Mr Macpherson, but of which, in this instance, he loses sighf 



LITERALLY TRANSLATED. 301 

Their close-gathered forms,* amidst the winds. 10 
As they pass (leap) from blast to blast, 
On the dusky countenance of the stormy nigh I, 
On the skirt of the gale, to the dwelling of the brave, 
They pour the vapour of the skies : 
A blue mansion to the shades of the deceased, 15 
Till the season that the death-song rises on the 
strings. 
There is a rustling; sound in the field of trees : 



TRANSLATION. 

mist, a gray dwelling to his ghost, until the songs 
arise. 

A sound came from the desart : 



The ghosts, or shades, of the deceased are uniformly represent- 
ed, by Ossian, as thin and feeble forms, which were liable to be 
tossed about by the blast, and even to have their substance, at 
times, torn and dispersed by the winds; an example of which oc- 
curs immediately below, at verse 23. It became necessary for 
them, therefore, to guard against such accidents, and to gather 
their unsubstantial forms into close array. Having this well known 
mythology in our eye, the expression, " close-gatfiered forms," 
suggests a precise and appropriate idea. See below Mr Mac- 
pherson's translation of verse 53, 



302 TEMORA, BOOK VII. 

'Se Connar righ Eirin a f ann, 

A taomadh ceo tannais gu dluth, 

Air Faolan* aig Lubhar nan smth. e ZO 

Muladach, suidhefo bhron, 

Dhaom an taibhs ami ceathach an loin. 

Thaom osnadh eisin annfein ; 

Ach pltill an cruth aluin gu dian ; v ^ 

Fhill e le chrom shealladh, mall, 25 

Lc ceo leadain, mar skuibhal nan sian. 

'S doilleir sho ! 
At a na sloigh nan suain, san am, 



It was Connar, king of Inisfail. He poured the mist on 
Fillan/* at blue winding Lubar. Dark and mournful sat the 
ghost, in his gray ridge of smoke. The blast, at times, rol- 



* Fillan, the son of Fingal, had been lately killed. See Book 
VI. 

+ We have here a fine example of the mythology alluded to 
in a preceding note. The ghost of Fillan had been rolled together 
by the blast, but soon resumed its form. Should it gratify any 



LITERALLY TRANSLATED. 303 

It is Connar, king of Erin, 

Pouring thick the mist of ghosts, 

On Fillaii/* at streamy Lubar. 20 

Sad, sitting in grief, 

Descended the ghost, in the mist of the vale 

(meadow,) 
The blast rolled him together ; 
But the noble form quickly returned into itself-^ 
It returned, slowly, with downcast look, 25 

With locks of mist, like the course of storms. 

It is dark ! 
The hosts, meantime, are sunk in sleep, 



TRANSLATION. 

led him together: but the form returned again; f it return- 
ed with bending eyes, and dark- winding locks of mist. 
It is dark ! The sleeping hosts were still, 



critic to have a similar image pointed out in another poet, I 
should refer him to Milton's 



But the ethereal substance closed, 



Not long divisible.' 



Paradise Lost, Book vi. ver. 330, 



304 TEMORA, BOOK VII. 

Ann trusgan ciar na Ji oiche. 

D/i illsich tein an righ, gu Ji a r; 30 

Dhaom e na aonar air swath. 

o 

Thuit coddal mu shuilean a Ghaisgich ; 
Thanig guth Fhaolain na chluais : — 

" An coddal sho don Fhear-posda aig Clatho ? * 
tc Am bheil comhnuidh dom athair ann suain ? 35 
" Am bheil cuimhne — 'smi an trusgan nan nial, 
<e 'Smi 'm aonar ann am na K oichef 



MR MACPHERSON S 

iii the skirts of night. The flame decayed on the hill of 
Fingal. The king lay, lonely, on his shield. His eyes were 
half-closed in sleep. The voice of Fillan came : — " Sleeps 



* A striking coincidence, not only of thought, but even of ex- 
pression, will be found between this nightly dialogue of Fillan's 
ghost, and Fingal ; and a well known passage in the Iliad of Ho- 
mer, which, however, has escaped the industry of Mr Laing. In 
the Iliad, (lib. xxiii. v. 65.) the ghost of Patroclus comes to 
Achilles, in a dream, and complains, that he is yet left without 
the rites of sepulture. The ghost says, almost in the words of 
Fillan, 

Ev&etq, uv\ot,% i^mo "Kikcce ■ptvoq iirhzv, ? A^7<hsv ; 



LITERALLY TRANSLATED. 305 

Wrapt in the dusky robe of night. 

Lowered is the flame of the king, on high, 30 

He bended, lonely, on his shield. 

Sleep descended on the eyes of the hero. 

The voice of Fiilan met his ear s — 

" Sleeps thus the husband of Clatho ? * 
H Does my father dwell in slumbers ? 35 

" Does he remember me in my vesture of mist, 
" Whilst I am lonely, in the season of night ?" 



TRANSLATION. 

" the husband of Clatho ? * Dwells the father of the fal- 
" len in rest? Arri I forgot in the folds of darkness, lonely, 
" in the season of night ?" 



That is: — " Dost thou sleep, and hast thou forgotten me, Achil- 
les ?" Achilles replies, 

That is: — " Why, dear friend, hast thou come hither?'* Who 
does not perceive, that this coincidence is the natural consequence 
of the superstition concerning funeral rites, which was common to 
the most of ancient nations ? 



¥ 



308 TEMORA, BOOK VII. 

u Carson a iha thu am aisiinfein f 
Thuirt Fionghall, 's e g' eiridh grad : 
<( An di-chuimhn dhamhsa mo mhac, 40 

" No shuibhal teine, air reidhlan nan laoch ? 
" Ni mar sin, air anam an righ 
" Thig gniomh seoid aluin nan cruaidh bheum. 

" Ni f n dealan iadsa, a theichas ann duibhre 

" Na K oicht ; 's nachfhag a lorg. 45 

<e 'S cuimhn learn Faolan na shuain : 

" 'Ta m 9 anam aig eiridh borb" 

Ghluais an righ le shleadh gu grad; 
Bhuail e an sgiath isfuaimnich cop, 



MR MACPHERSON S 

" Why dost thou mix," said the king, " with the 
" dreams of thy father ? Can I forget thee, my son, or 
" thy path of fire in the field ? Not such come the deeds 
u of the valiant, on the soul of Fingal. They are not 
({ there a beam of lightning, which is seen, and is then 



LITERALLY TRANSLATED. 307 

" Why art thou in my dreams f* 
Said Fingal, rising in haste, 

" Can I forget my son, 40 

" Or his path of fire, in the field of the brave ? 
" Not thus, on the soul of the king, 
u Come the actions of the heroes of hardy deeds, 

(strokes.) 
" No flash are they that passes in the darkness 
" Of night, and leaves no trace behind. 45 

" I remember Fillan in his rest ; 
" My soul arises furious." 

The king advanced with his spear, in haste; 
He struck the shield of resounding boss ; 



TRANSLATION. 

" no more. I remember thee, O Fillan, and my wrath 
" begins to rise." 

The king took his deathfuli spear, and struck the 
deep-sounding shield; 



| There is nothing of " deathful," or " dismal," in the origi- 
nal. 



308 TEMORA, BOOK VII. 

An sgiath a dK aom s' cm oiche ard, 

Ball mosglaidh do chath nan lot, 50 

Air aomadh duhh nan sliabh,f 

Air gaoith, theich treud nan taibhs' : 

O ghleannan ciar nan iomadk lub, 

Mhosguil guth a bhais. 55 

Bhuail e an sgiath, an dara cuairt; 

Ghluais cogadh an aislin an f shluaigh ; 

Bhi comhstri nan lann glas 

A dealradh air anam nan seod : 

— Cinn-feadhna a druideadh gu catk : 60 

— Sluagh a teicheadh, — gnibmh bu chruaidh, 



his shield that hung high in night; the dismal sign of 
war ! Ghosts fled on every side, and rolled their gather- 
ed forms* on the wind. Thrice, from the winding vale, 
arose the voice of deaths. The heaps of the bards, un- 
touched, sound mournful over the hill, (probably hall.) He 



* " Gathered forms" is here introduced, where it is wanting in 
the original. The sentence printed in italics does not occur in my 
edition of the Gaelic. 



LITERALLY TRANSLATED. 309 

The shield that hung high in night ; 50 

The instrument that rouzed to the battle of wounds. 

Upon the dusky slopes of the mountains/}- 

On wind, fled the tribes of ghosts. 

From the gray vale of many windings - 

Awoke the voice of death. 55 

He struck the shield a second time (round :) 

Battles arose in the dreams of the host. 

The strife of blue swords, 

Gleamed upon the souls of the heroes ;— 

Chiefs closing in battle ;— 60 

People flying; — hardiest deeds, 



TRANSLATION. 

struck again the shield; battles rose in the dreams of 
the people. The wide- tumbling strife is gleaming over 
their souls. Blue-shielded kings descend to war. Back- 
ward-looking armies fly, and mighty deeds 



t This verse, though very beautiful, is omitted by Mr Macpher- 
son. 



310 TEMORA, BOOK VII. 

Leth^dhoilleir ann dealan an staluin.* 

N' uair dheirich an darafuaim,f 
Leumfeidh d chos nan cam. 

Chlvjnte an sgreadan sg£ 's anfhasaich, 65 

Gach eun air osmigfhein. 
Leth-eirick siol Albin nam buadh, 
Thog iad suas gach sleagh bu ghlas : 
Achphill samhchair air an f shluagh, 
'Se bK ann sgiath Mhorbheinn namfras 70 

Phill coddal air suilean nam Fear : 
Bu dorcha trom an gleann. 



MR MACPHERSON S 

are half-hid in the bright gleam of steel.* 

But, when the third f sound arose, deer started from 
the clefts of the rocks. The screams of fowl are heard, 
in the desart, as each flew, frighted, on his blast. The 



* It is needless to remark the liberties taken by Mr Macpher- 
son, in translating this passage ; they will appear from the literal 
version. There is nothing, in the original, of those rumbling 
epithets, — " wide-tumbling, blue-shielded, or backwards flying." 
These might be justly styled bombast by any critic. 

i It appears evident, that Mr Macpherson has entirely mis- 



LITERALLY TRANSLATED. 811 

Half-obscure, in the gleam of steel. # 

When the second sound arose/j- 
Deer started from the caverns of the rocks ; 
There was heard the scream of birds in the desart, 
Each bird on its own blast; 66 

Half arose the race of victorious Albion, 
They lifted up their gray spears. 
But silence returned upon the host : 
It was the shield of showery Morven. 70 

Sleep returned upon the eyes of the heroes ; 
Dark and gloomy (heavy) was the vale. 



TRANSLATION. 

sons of Morven half-rose, and half-assumed their spears ; 
but silence rolled back on the host : they knew the 
shield of the king. Sleep returned to their eyes ; the 
field was dark and still. 



calculated the different alarms given by the shield of Fingal ; and 
hence he finds himself obliged to omit the expression, " the second 
" time," in verse 56, and io mistranslate the expression, " the 
" second sound,' 1 in verse 63. It will appear afterwards, that 
the third sound of the shield was not heard till Suilvala comes to 
Cathmor, verse 92. 



312 TEMORA, BOOK VII. 

N' im bu choddal duitse 's an uair, 
Nighean shuilghorm Chommhoir nam buadh, 
Chual Suilmhala anfhuaim ; 75 

Dti elrich i san oiche le gruairn ; 
'Ta a ceum gu righ At ha nan colg: 
" JV' im mosguil cunart anam borb"* 

Trom a sheas i, a suilean sios; 

'Ta 'n speurf arm losgadh nan reul. 80 

Chualas hatha sgiath nan cop: 
Ghluais : ghrad sheas an oigh ; 
Dh y eitich a guth ; ach dhaom e sios. 



No sleep was thine, in darkness, blue-eyed daughter 
of Conmor. Snilmalla heard the dreadful shield, and 
rose amidst the night. Her steps are towards the king 
of Atha. Can danger shake his daring soul ! * In doubt, 



* Mr Macpherson seems not to perceive, that this line is, a soli- 
loquy of Suilvala. 

+ In all the originals before us, there occurs no term, which 
should be translated " heaven." Here it is spcur, " the sky." 



LITERALLY TRANSLATED. 313 

But no sleep was thine, at the time, 
Blue-eyed daughter of victorious Conmor. 
Suilvala had heard the sound : 75 

She arose^ through night, in sadness. 
Her steps are towards the king of warlike Atha : — 
u Danger," said she to herself, " will not move his 

daring soul." * 
Sad she stood with downcast eyes : 
The sky f is bright with stars. 80 

She had heard the bossy shield. 
She advanced. Soon stopped the maid. 
Her voice arose ; but sunk again. 



TRANSLATION. 

she stands, with bending eyes. Heaven f burns with all 
its stars. 

Again % the shield resounds. She rushed : she stop- 
ped. Her voice half-rose : it failed. 



J From Mr Macpherson's miscalculation of the alarms given 
by Fingal's shield, he falls into repeated errors. The shield did 
not sound again, on this occasion. It was the second sound, men- 
tioned verse 63, that had roused the fears of Suilvala, 



314 TEMORA, BOOK VII. 

Ckunnaic is e na staluin chruaidh, 

A dealradh ri losgadh nan reuL 85 

Chunnaic is e } na leadan trom 

Aig eiridh ri osnadh nan spew. 

Thionnda i a ceumna lefiamh: 
<e Carson a dhdsgeams righ Eirin nam bolg ? * 

" Ni 'n aislin da choddal thufein, 90 

a A nighean Inis-uaine nan colg" * 

Gu garg mhosguil an torman : 
'n oigh ihuit a ceann-bheairt sios : 
Ta amfathrom air carraig nan sruth. 



She saw him, amidst his arms, that gleamed in heaven's 
fire. She saw him dim in his locks, that rose to nightly 
wind. Away, for fear, she turned her steps. K Why 
" should the king of Erin awake ? Thou art not the 



* Here occur the terms nam Bolg, applied to that part of Ire- 
land which formed the kingdom of Cathmor, and nan Colg, ap- 
plied to the country of Suilvala, who, inspired by love, bad foj, 
lowed him in disguise. 



LITERALLY TRANSLATED. 315 

She beheld him armed in hard steel, 
Gleaming in the brightness of the stars. 8.5 

She beheld him, with his bushy (heavy) locks 
Rising on the sighs of the sky. 

She turned aside, her steps, in fear : — 
" Why," said she to herself, " should I awaken the 

king of Erin ? 
" Thou art not in the dreams of his sleep, 90 

" Daughter of warlike Inisuaine." * 

Fiercely, again, -\ awoke the sound. 
From the maiden fell her helmet down. 
The sound is from the rock of streams. 



TRANSLATION. 

u dream of his rest, daughter of Inisuaine." 

More dreadful rung the shield. Suilmalla starts. Her 
helmet falls. Loud echoed Lubar's rock, as over it rolled 
tJte steel. X 



+ This is the third alarm of Fingal's shield. 
J Of the bombast here marked in italics, there is nothing lr 
the originaj. 



316 TEMORA, BOOK VII. 

Plaosgadh o' aislin na h' oicke, $5 

Ghluais Cathmorfa chrannfein.* 
Chunnaic e an oigh bu tla, 
Air carraig Lubhar nan sliabh; 
Dearg reul a sealladh 6ios 
'Measg siubhal a trom chiabh. 100 

" Cia Ha roimh oiche gu Catkmorft 
" Ann cearr % aimsir aislin fein f 



MR MACPHERSONS 

Bursting from the dreams of night, Cathmor half-rose,* 
beneath his tree. He saw the form of the maid, above 
him, on the rock. A red star, with twinkling beam, 



* It must have occurred, that Mr Macpherson seems to be pe- 
culiarly fond of compounding his terms with the word half. This 
word, indeed, occurs thrice in the original of this Book. But Mr 
Macpherson halves every thing. " They assumed," is, with him, 
" they half assumed;" " her voice arose," is, " half arose;" 
" sleep descended on his eyes," is, " his eyes were half closed in 
" sleep." 

• Tn; a hru xot\c& vyou; ccva, fpccrov ipptfou »tof 
Nuxto. 5j* ogtyvcciriv < • 

'Hi," ifc. 

Iliad, lib. x. v. 82. 



LITERALLY TRANSLATED. 317 

Bursting from the dreams of night, 95 

Advanced Cathmor, from beneath his tree.* 
He beheld the gentle maiden, 
Upon the rock of hilly Lubar : 
A red star looked downwards, 
Through the flowing of her bushy locks. 1Q0 

" Who comes, through night, to Cathmor/f* 
a In the sinistrous J season of his dreams ? 



TRANSLATION. 

looked through her floating hair. 

" Who comes through night to Cathmor, f in the sea- 
" son % of his dreams ? Bringest thou aught of war ? 



J The term cearr occurs twice in the original of this Book, in a 
very appropriate acceptation ; but, in neither instance is it trans- 
lated, by Mr Macpherson, who probably did not understand it. 
Cearr signifies, in general, of any two things, or ways, the wrong 
one. Thus, in contradistinction to straight, it signifies oblique ; in 
opposition to lucky, it signifies unlucky; in opposition to right* 
handed, it signifies left-handed. It is here rendered by sinistrous^ 
unlucky, or ominous. 



318 TEMORA, BOOK VII. 

" Am bheiljios duit air stri nan cruaidh bheum % 
<c Cia thusa, mhic duibhre nan speur ? 

* Na sheas thu amjiadhnuis an righ, 105 
" Do chaol thannas o' nam o' shean ? 

" No y n guth thu o y moil namfras, 
" Le cunart Erin nan colg sean f* 

<e Ni 'nfear suibhail mifein; 
a Ni 'n guth mi o' neoil nan gruaim : 110 

" Ach 'ta m' fhocul le cunart na li Erin. 
" An cualas duit copan nam fuaim? 
" Ni 'n taibhs e, righ Atha nan sruth, 
" A thaomas anfhuaim air oiche." 

" Taomadh an seod a ghuthfein : 115 

* 'Sfonn clarsaich do Chathmor anfhuaim: 

** 'Ta aiteaSy mhic duibhre nan speur > 



MR MACPHERSON S 

rt Who art thou, son of night ? Standest thou before me, 
" a form of the times of old? A voice, from the fold of a 
et cloud, to warn me of Erin's danger ?" 

" Nor lonely scout am I, nor voice from folded cloud ; 
* but I warn thee of the danger of Erin. Dost thou 



LITERALLY TRANSLATED. SI® 

ei Knowest thou of the strife of battle, (hard blows) ? 
" Who art thou, son of the darkness of the sky ? 
" Standest thou in the presence of the king, 105 
* A slender shade of the times of old ? 
u Or art thou a voice, from the showery clouds, 
" To tell the danger of ancient Erin . ? " 

" No traveller am I, 
" Nor voice from the frowning clouds ; 110 

" But my words are of the danger of Erin. 
" Didst thou hear the resounding boss I 
" It is no ghost, king of streamy Atha, 
" That pours the sound on night." 

" Let the hero pour his voice 115 

*'' As the melody of the harp, is the sound to 

Cathmor. 
" Joy, O son of the darkness of the sky, 



TRANSLATION. 

" hear that sound ! It is not the feeble, king of Atha, 
" that rolls his signs on night." 

" Let the warrior roll his signs ; to Cathmor, they are 
" the sound of harps. My joy is great, voice of night, 



320 TEMORA > BOOK VII. 

u Losgadh air rnanam gun ghruaim.* 

" 'S e ceol ckinn-fheadhna nan cruaidh bheum, 

<c Am oiche, air aisrigh nan sian; 120 

" 'Nuair a lasas anam nan sonn x 

a A chlann an cruadal do 'miann. 

" 'Ta siol meata aig comhnuidh namjiamh, 

" Ann gleannan nan osnadh tla ; 

" Far an aom ceo-maidne ri sliabh, 125 

tt 0' ghorm shuibhal sruthan nam blar." 

IC Ni 'meata, cheann-uithe nan sonn, 
" An srnsrd on do thuit mifein : 



MR MACPHERSON S 

" and burns over all my thoughts.* This is the music 
" of kings, on lonely hills, by night, when they light 
u their daring souls, the sons of mighty deeds. The 
" feeble dwell alone, in the valley of the breeze, where 



* From comparing the literal translation of the above four 
lines, or indeed of this whole passage, with that given by Mr 
Macpherson, it is presumed that it will appear evident, that, now 
tired of his labour, which had not been inconsiderable, be is ha- 



LITERALLY TRANSLATED. 321 

e< Burns upon my unclouded soul.f 
" This is the music of hardy chieftains, 
" In the season of night, on the stormy hills, 120 
" When kindle the souls of the brave, 
" The race in hardships that delight; 
" The race of the timid dwell, in fear, 
" In the vale of soft breezes, 
" Where ascends the mist of the morning to the 
hill, 125 

H From the blue course of the streams of the plain." 

" Not timid, thou leader of the brave, 
a Were the fathers from whom I sprung* 



TRANSLATION, 

* mists lift their morning skirts, from the blue winding 
l< stream." 

" Not feeble, king of men, were they, the fathers of 

* my race. 



stening towards a conclusion, by skimming over his subject, and 
by omitting any image, or expression, which it might be difficult, 
or troublesome, to him to render. 



X 



322 TEMORA, BOOK VII, 

u Bu chomhnuidh dhoibh dubhra nan town, 

(t Ann tirfhada ; siol cholgach nam beum, 130 

" Ach ni 'n solas do W anam tla, 
" Fuaim mall a bhais o 'n raon, 
u Thig eisean nach geill gu bratk : 
C( Mosgail bardfocail is caoin" 

Mar charraig, is sruthan ri taobh, 135 

Annfasaich namfaoin bheann, 
Sheas Cathrnor, ceann-feadhna nach maoin, 
Ann deoir. 

Mar oiteig, air anam y le bron, 
Thanig guth caoin na K oigh ; 140 

Mosgladh cuimhn 1 talamh nam beann, 
A caomh chomhnuidh, aig sruthain nan gleann ; 
Roimh 'n am 'n a° thainig e gu borb, 



MR MACPHERSON S 

" They dwelt in the folds of battle, in their distant lands. 
" Yet delights not my soul in the signs of death ! He, 
" who never yields, comes forth : O send the bard of 
c% peace." 



LITERALLY TRANSLATED. 323 

u Their dwelling was in the dark caverns of the 

waves, 
" In a distant land ; a warlike race. 130 

* But my soft spirit has no delight 

" In the slow sound of death, on the plain, 

* He comes, who never yields. 

" Awaken the bard of mildest voice." 

Like a rock, over whose side a streamlet trickles, 
In the desart of low hills, 136 

Stood Cathmor, valiant chief ! 
In tears. 

Like a breeze, on his soul, sorrowfully, 
Came the soft voice of the maiden ; 140 

Awakening the memory of the land of mountains, 
Her peaceful dwelling, by the streams of the vale, 
Before he had come, in his wrath, 



TRANSLATION. 

Like a dropping rock, in the desart, stood Cathmor, 
in tears. Her voice came, a breeze, on his soul, and 
waked the memory of her land j where she dwelt by her 
peaceful streams, before he came 



324 TEMORA, BOOK VII. 

Gu comhair Chonmhoir nan colgjiar.* 

" A nighean choigreach nan lann" 145 

(Thionnda i a ceann o 'n f shonn:) 
" 'Sfaddafa 'm shuil, ann cruaidh, 
" Cramif flathail Inisuaine nan tonn. 
" y Ta 'm anam, do thubhairt mifein, 
" Ann trusgan nan sian ciar. ] 50 

" Carson a lasadh an dealra shofhein, 
" Gus am pill mi, ann sith, on £ shliabh ? 



MR MACPHERSON S 

to the war of Cdnmor.* 

" Daughter of strangers," he said, (she, trembling, 
turned away,) " long have I marked thee in thy steel. 



* I may be permitted to remark, that, in this passage, there 
occur, in the original, many affecting and inimitable beauties. 
Suilvala, who had become enamoured of Cathmor, during his re- 
sidence in Inisuaine, her native land, follows him, in disguise. 
Prompted by her anxiety for his safety, she warns him, through 
night, of the military preparations of Fingal; but he disdains 
every thought of fear. She betrays her sex, by her timidity and 
alarm. Cathmor instantly recognizes her, under her disguise, and 
-ft deeply affected on the occasion. By a most exquisite simile, 



LITERALLY TRANSLATED. 325 

To the aid of warlike (of the inverted bristles) 
Conmor. # 
" Thou daughter of strangers of swords, 145 
(She turned her head aside from the hero,) 
" Long, under my eye, in armour, 
" Has been the fair branch f of billowy Inisuaine. 
" My soul, (said I to myself,) 
" Is folded in a robe of dusky storms. 150 

" Why should this light kindle, 
" Until I return in peace from the mountain ? 



TRANSLATION. 

" young pine f of Inishuna. Bat my soul, (I said,) is 
" folded in a storm. Why should that beam arise, till 
" my steps return in peace ? 



he is compared to " a rock, Over whose side a streamlet trickles," 
indicating, at once, the firmness, and the gentleness, of his nature. 
The whole of his subsequent deportment towards Suilvala, dis- 
plays a spirit of tenderness and generosity, which would do ho- 
nour to human nature, in any period of society. Much of this 
beauty is lost in Mr Macpherson's translation. 

+ Crann signifies a tree, or a branch of a tree. Mr Macpher.- 
aon unwarrantably specifies the tree, and makes it a pine. 



326 TEMORA, BOOK VII. 

u Na ghlais m y aghaidh an t* fhianuis a lamh geal, 

" 'S tu togail do 'm eagal an righ ? 

u S' am cunairt, ainnir nan trom chiabk, 155 

u Am do 'm } anam ; mor-thalla nan stri : f 

" Ataidh se, domhail mar shruth, 

" Taomadh air Gaidheal% nan cruaidh bheum. 

" Aig taobh carraig chosach air Lona, 

" Mu chaochan nan sruthan crom, 160 

" Glas, ann ciabha na K aois, 

MR MACPHERSON's 

* Have I been pale in thy presence, when thou bidst 
u me to fear the king ? The time of danger, O maid, is 
" the season of my soul ; f for then it swells a mighty 



i Besides numerous omissions and suppressions in this pas- 
sage, I observe, that Mr Macpherson has entirely neglected to 
render the last clause of this line, mor-thalla nan stri, probably 
because he did not understand its application. It implies, that 
the soul of Cathmor was the hall, or seat, of warlike senti- 
ments. 



LITERALLY TRANSLATED. 227 

" Did my visage turn pale in thy presence, white 

handed maid? 
" That thou shouldst raise, to alarm me, the king, 

(Fingal.) 154 

" The season of danger, maid of the bushy locks, 
" Is the season of my soul, — great seat of battles, — f 
" It swells large, like a stream, 
" Pouring down upon the hardy Gaels.J 
" By the side of a cavernous rock, on Lona, 
" Near the gurgling of winding streams, 160 

rt Gray, in his locks of age, 



TRANSLATION. 

" stream, and rolls me on the foe.i 

" Beneath the moss-covered rock of Lona, near his 
u own blue stream, gray, in his locks of age, 



$ This is the only passage, in the originals that I have seen, 
where the people of Fingal are specifically denominated Gaels, 
the name by which the Scots Highlanders designate themselves at 
this day. It is important to remark this, with a view to the 
claims of Ireland to Fingal and his people. Mr Macpberson loses 
this in his translation. 



328 TEMORA, BOOK VII. 

" 'Ta Claon-mhal, righ clarsich namfonn. 
" O' s cionn, 'ta crann darraich namfuaim, 
" Agus suibhal nan ruadh-bhoc sliom. 
" 'Tafathrom na stri na chluais, 165 

" 'S eg* aomadh ann smuainte nach tiom.* 
" Ann sin bithidh do thalla, Shuilmhala, 
" Gus an islich fathrom nam benm. 
" Gus am pill mi, ann lasadh nan cruaidh, 
" 0' thrusgan duibhre na beinn; 170 

e( O' n cheath«ch a thrusas o Lona, 
" Mu chomhnuidh mo ruinfein." f 
Thuit gath solids air anam na K oigh ; 



" dwells Claonmal, king of harps. Above him is his 
" echoing tree, and the dun bounding of roes. The 
* noise of our strife reaches his ear, as he bends in his 
" thoughts of years.* There let thy rest be, Suilmalla / 



* Smuainte nach tiom; that is, " thoughts not gentle and plea- 
11 sant, but grieved and sad." This Mr Macpherson unwarrant- 
ably translates, ** thoughts of years." 



LITERALLY TRANSLATED. 329 

« Is Claon-mal, chief (king) of the melodious harp. 

"Above is a rustling oak, 

" And the haunts (courses) of the sleek rbe. 

a The din of the battle is in his ear, 165 

" As he bends in his thoughts of grief.* 

" There shall he thy residence, Suilvala, 

" Till the noise of the battle (of the blows) subsides; 

" Till I return in the blaze of my armour, 

** From the skirt of the mountain's shade ; 170 

<c From the mist that gathers on Lona, 

" Around the dwelling of my love."f 

A beam of light fell on the soul of the maiden, 



TRANSLATION. 

" until our battle cease ; until I return in my arms, from 
I the skirts of the evening mist, that rises on Lona, 
" round the dwelling of my love/' f 
A light fell on the soul of the maid ; 



-+ The conclusion of Cathmor's speech is highly poetical and 
tender. 



33'0 TEMORA, BOOK VII. 

Las i suasfa chomhair an righ : * 
Thionnda i a K aghaidh ri Cathmor, 175 

A ciabhag ann 's na N osna a st?i. 
" Reubar iulair nan speur ard 

" O y mhor-shruth gaoitk nan gleann, 

" 'Nuair a chi i na rua-bhuicfa comhair, 

" Clann-eilde nam faoin-bheann ; 180 

" Mun tionnda Cathmor nan cruaidh bheum, 

" O' n stri mun eirich an dan.\ 

" Faceams thu, ghaisgich nan geur lann> 



it rose, kindled, before the king.* She turned her face 
to Cathmor, from amidst her waving locks. u Sooner 
" shall the eagle of heaven be torn from the stream of 
" his roaring wind, when he sees the dun prey before 



* In the first line, much beauty is lost, by suppressing the 
" beam" of light ; and, in the second, the translation is false. It 
was not the " light/' but Suilvala, on whom " the beam of 
u light" had fallen, that " kindled," or brightened, " before the 
" king." 



LITERALLY TRANSLATED. 331 

She brightened in the presence of the king.* 
She turned her countenance towards Cathmor, 175 
Her locks struggling in the breeze. 

" Sooner/' said she, " shall be torn the eagle of 
the lofty sky, 
" From the swelling stream of wind, in the vale, 
iS When she sees the roes before her, 
■* The bounding sons of the low hills, ISO 

" Than the warlike Cathmor shall turn away 
" From the battle, which shall rise in song.f 
a Let me behold thee, hero of the sharp swords, 



TRANSLATION, 



* him, the young sons of the bounding roe, than thoi^ 
a O Cathmor, be turned from the strife of renown.f 

* Soon may I see thee, warrior, 



+ In translating this beautiful and energetic simile, it must be 
•acknowledged, that Mr Macpherson has been uncommonly suc- 
cessful. He has caught the idea of his original very forcibly. 
Still, however, there is too much of his own. There is nothing in 
the Gaelic of " roaring" wind, or " dun prey." 



S32 TEMORA, BOOK VII. 

" 0* thrusgan an duibhre dhuibh, 

" 'Nuair a thogas ceo mum chomhnuidhfein 185 

" Air Lona, nan iomadh smth. 

" 'Nuair isfadda o' m shuilean thu, sheoid, 

" Buail copan namfuaim ard. 

" Pillidh solas do m' anam, 's e 7 n ceo, 

" 'S mi g 9 aomadh air carraig learn fein. 190 

" Acli mo thuit thu, marri coigi ich ata mi ; 

" Thigeadh do ghuth o neoil, 

" Gu oigh Inisuaine, 's if aim" 

" Og-gheug Lumoin anfheoir, 
" O uime dhb aomadh tu 'n strachda nan sian, 195 

" Dubh thaomadh air aghaidh nan sliabh ? 



MR MACPHERSON S 

" from the skirts of the evening mist, when i^ is rolled 
w around me, on Lona of the streams. While yet thou 
" art distant far, Cathmor, strike the shield, that joy may 
" return to my darkened soul, as I lean on the mossy 
" rock - f but, if thou shouldst fall, I am in a land of 






LITERALLY TRANSLATED. 833 

a From my robe of dusky gloom, 

" When the mist rises about my dwelling, 185 

" At Lona of many streams. 

" When thou art far from my sight, O hero, 

" Strike the loud resounding boss : 

tt Joy will return to my clouded soul, 

" Whilst I bend, lonely, over the rock. 190 

" But, if thou fallest, I am with strangers : 

<c Let thy voice come from the clouds, 

" To the maid of Inisuaine, when she is low." 

" Youthful branch of grassy Lumom, 
" Why shouldst thou sink in the bursting of the 
storm, 195 

" Dark pouring over the face of the mountains ? 



TRANSLATION. 

" strangers; O send thy voice, from thy cloud, to the 
" maid of Inishuna." 

« Young branch of green-headed Lumon, why dost 
" thou shake in the storm ? 



534 TEMORA, BOOK VII. 

" 'St tie thionnda Cathmor o 'n bhlar;* 

" Mar mheallain dhamhfein tha sleagh nan lot, 

" 'S iad pronnadh air cos nan sgiath: 

" Dh' eiream am sholus o 'n stri, 200 

" Mar thein-oiche, o' thaomadh nan nial. 

" Na pill, a dheo-greine, o 'n ghlcann, 

" 'Nuair a dhlnthicheas fathrom nan colg : 

" 'Eagal teicheadh do 'n namhaid o 'm laimh, 

" Mar theich iad o shins' ra nam Bolg: — 205 



MR MACPHERSON's 

Cf often has Cathmor returned from darkly-rolling wars.* 
" The darts of death are but hail to me; they have often 
" bounded from my shield. I have risen, brighten- 
rt ed, from battle, like a meteor from a stormy cloud. 



* In the original before me, the verse, 

" Dark pouring over the face of mountains," 

which evidently refers to " the bursting of the storm," mentioned 
in verse 195, is placed after the verse 

" Often has Cathmor returned from the field." 



LITERALLY TRANSLATED. 8SS 

u Often has Cathmor returned from the field,* 

" As hail are the wounding spears to me, 

u As they crash upon the bosses of the shields. 

" I have risen, as a light, from the contest ; 20G 

" As a meteor of night, from the bursting cloud. 

" Return not, sun-beam, from the vale, 

<f When the din of the encounter thickens : 

" Lest the enemy should escape from my hand, 

" As they escaped from my fathers of the Bolgi :— 



TRANSLATION. 

* Return not, fair beam, from thy vale, when the roar of 
" battle grows : then might the foe escape, as from my 
** fathers of old. 



This mistake of the reciter, or transcriber, is corrected, and the 
confusion occasioned, in the sense of this passage, removed. Mr 
Macpherson, who generally gives himself no trouble about such 
difficulties, applies the verse, in the order that it stands, to " wars," 
and gives us the bombastic phrase " dark-rolling." 



336 TEMORA, BOOK VII, 

" *Chualas le Sonmor air Cluanar, 
" A thuitfa Chormag, nan geur lann ; 
" Tri laethe dhorchaich an righ, 

" Mu 'nfhear a dh? aom ann stri nan gleann. 

" Chunnaic minbhean an sonn ann ceo ; 210 

" Phrosnaich sud dith siubhal gu sliabh. 

" Thog i a bogha,fos n iosal, 

" Gu dot mar-ri laoch nan sgiath.f 

" Do '?i ainnir luidh duibhre air Aiha 

" 'Nuair a shiubhail an gaisgeach gu gtiiomh. 215 



MR MACPHERSON S 

" They told to Sonmor of Cluanar, who was slain by 
" Cormac in fight. Three days darkened Sonmor, over 
* his brother's fall. His spouse beheld the silent king, 



* Here Cathmor, to persuade Suilvala to remain in her retreat 
until the battle should be over, artfully introduces, and relates, an 
instance, in the history of one of his ancestors, in which the inter- 
ference of a lady had interrupted the tide of victory, and given 
the enemy an opportunity to escape. 



LITERALLY TRANSLATED. 337 

" * Sonmor had heard of Cluanar, his brother, 206 
" Who fell under Cormag of sharp swords. 
" For three days, the visage of the king was dark- 
ened, 
" For the man who fell in the strife of the vale. 
" His gentle spouse beheld the hero in darkness: 210 
(< This moved her to travel to the mountain. 
" She took up her bow, in secret, 
" To accompany the hero of shields.f 
<c For, to the fair one lay darkness on Atha, 
" When the warrior departed to action. 215 



TRANSLATION. 

** and foresaw his steps to war. She prepared the bow, 
** in secret, to attend her blue- shielded hero.f To her 
" dwelt darkness in Atha, when he was not there. 



+ Of the colour of the shield, we have nothing in the original. 
The whole of this passage, especially the last verse, is feebly 
translated by Mr Macpherson. 



S38 TEMORA, BOOK VII. 

11 cheud sruthan aonach na h 9 oiche? 

" Thaom siol Alnecma sios. 

" Chualas sgiath chaismachd an righ ; 

" Mhosguil an anam gu stri. 

" Bha an suibhal amfathrom nan lann, 220 

u Gu Ullin, talamh nan crann, 

" Bhuail Sonmor, air uairibh, an sgiath, 

" — Ccannfeadhna nam borb thriath. 

" Nan diaigh lean Suilaluin, 

" Air aomadh namfras. 225 

" Bu sholus is air an aonach, 



" From their hundred streams, by night,* poured 
" down the sons of Alnecma. They had heard the 
" shield of the king, and their rage arose. In clanging 
" arms, they moved along, towards Ullin of the groves. 



* I am uncertain whether I am correct in this translation. 
M Aonach na h' oiche" signifies, literally, " the mountain of night." 
Whether the poet means, " by night," as Mr Macpherson, conve- 

2 



LITERALLY TRANSLATED. 539 

" From an hundred streams of the dusky* moun* 
tain, 
" Poured the race of Alnecma down. 
" They had heard the call of the shield of the king; 
" Their souls awakened to the encounter. 
" They travelled, in the din of swords, 220 

" Towards Ullin, the land of trees. 
" Sonmor struck, at times, his shield, — 
" Chief of ferocious tribes. 
<{ After them followed Suilaluin, 
" Upon the showery slopes of the hills. %25 

" She was a light upon the mountain^ 



TRANSLATION. 

" Sonmor struck his shield, at times, the leader of the 
" war. 

" Far behind followed Suilallin, over the streamy hills. 
" She was a light on the mountain, 



niently omitting tee term " mountain," renders it, or whether 
" of night," — dark, or dusky, — be intended, as an epithet, is 
doubtful. 



340 TEMORA, BOOK VII- 

" * Nuair a thaom iad air gleanntai glas: 

" Ta a ctumna jiathail air lorn, 

" 'Nuair a thov iad ri aghaidh nan torn,* 

" B' eagal di sealla an righ, 230 

" A d/ifhag i aim A ilia namfri.f 

" 'Nuair a dli eirich fathrom nam beum, 
" 'S a thaom iad 's a cheile 's a chath, 
" Loisg Sonmor, mar theine nan spear; 
" Tkanig Suilaluin namjiath:\ 235 

" Afolta sgaoilte 's an ossag ; 



MR MACPHERSON S 

u when they crossed the vale below. Her steps were 
" stately on the vale, when they rose on the mossy 
" hills.* She feared the approach of the king, who left 
" her in echoing! Atha. But when the roar of battle 



* How faintly is the contrast marked, in Mr Macpberson's 
translation, between the course of Suilaluin, and that of her hus- 
band and his troops; she avoiding him, by travelling along the 
hills, when he was in the valley; and by travelling on the plain, 
whilst he marched along the hills ? 

t The term fri, here translated " grassy" signifies, literally, 
M deer-pastures" and is the term still used, in many parts of the 



LITERALLY TRANSLATED. 341 

(f When they descended to the gray vales: 

" Her steps were stately on the plain, 

" When they ascended the face of the hills.* 

" For she dreaded the looks of the king, 230 

" Who had left her hehind in grassy f Atha. 

" When the din of battle (blows) arose, 
H And they mingled together in the contest, 
" Sonmor blazed like the fire of the sky. 
" Suilaluin, the fair, J came forward : 9,35 

f{ Her hair spread out in the gale : 



TRANSLATION. 

"rose; when host was rolled on host; when Sonmor 
" burnt like the fire of heaven in clouds, with her 
" spreading hair came Suilallin : 



Highlands, for those tracts which are reserved for deer, called fo- 
rests. It is evident, that Mr Macpherson did not understand the 
expression ; but it is not easy to conjecture, how he stumbled 
upon the unmeaning epithet, echoing, which he substitutes in its 
room. 

% ■" Namjlath" the excellent, the beautiful. 



342 TEMORA, BOOK VII. 

" A h' anam ag osparn mu 'n righ. 

" DN aom e an stri, mu run nan laoch ; # 

" Theich an namhaidfa dhuibhre nan speur. 

" Luidh Cluanar gun J hull ; f 240 

" Gun f hull, ami Ugh caol gun hus. 

" Ni 'n d' eirichfearg Shonmhoir nan lann, 
" Bha tatthe gu dorch 's gu mall: 
" Ghluais Suilaluin ma gorm shruthfein, 
*' A suil arm reachda nan deur. 245 

a Bu lionmhor a sealladh, gu caoin, 
" Air gaisgeach samhach nachfaoin. 
" Ach thionnda i a suilean tla, 
" O' shealladh an laoich thuadail. 



MR MACPHERSONS 

" For she trembled for her king. He stopped the rush- 
*■ ing strife to save the love of heroes.* The foe fled by 
" night. Cluanar slept without his blood ; f the blood 
" which ought to be poured upon the warrior's tomb. 
" Nor rose the rage of Sonmor ; but his days were 



* That is :— in order to save her from being hurt in the en- 
counter. 



LITERALLY TRANSLATED. 343 

" Her soul throbbing for the king. 
" He declined the combat, for the love of heroes.* 
" The enemy fled, under the darkness of the sky. 
" Cluanar lay without blood ; f 240 

• Without blood, in the narrow torchless house. 
" Nor rose the wrath of Sonmor of swords ; 

" But his days were dark and tedious. 

" Suilaluin walked by her own blue stream, 

" Her eye ever bursting in tears. 245 

" Frequent were her looks, most mild, 

" Towards the silent chief. 

" But she turned aside her soft eyes, 

* From the looks of the gloomy hero. 



TRANSLATION. 

" silent and dark. Suilallin wandered by her gray 
* streams, with her tearful eyes. Often did she look on 
** the hero, when he was folded in his thoughts. But 
" she shrunk from his eyes, and turned her lone steps 
f away. 



+ That is : — without his revenge. Mr Macpherson's translation 
of the next line is a feeble paraphrase. 



344 TEMORA, BOOK VII. 

u Mhosguil blair, marfhathrom nan nial; 250 

" Ghluais domin o' anam mor. 

i( Chuncas a ctumna It K ait e as, 

" 'S a lamh gheal air clarsich namfonn."* 

Na chruaidh ghluais an righ gun dail: 
Bhuail e ri sgiath chosach, ard, 0,55 

Gu li ard, air darrach nan sian 
Aig Lubhar nan iomadh sruth.f 
Seachd copairt bha air an sgeith, 
Seachdfocaii an righ da sh/uagh ; 



MR MACPHERSONS 

" Battles rose like a tempest, and drove the mist from 
" his soul. He beheld, with joy, her steps in the hall, 
" and the white rising of her hands on the harp." * 



♦ Here ends the episode, introduced by Cathmor, to persuade 
Suilvala to remain in her concealment, until the engagement 
should be over. The poet then proceeds to describe Cathmor, 
advancing to battle, in his armour. But, to divert the tediousness 
of the remaining hours of night, he summons the Bards ; and hears 
the song of Fonnar, in which he relates the naval expedition of 
Larthon. 



LITERALLY TRANSLATED. 345 

« Wars awoke, like the noise of clouds : 250 

" Grief departed from his mighty soul. 
« He beheld, at lengthy her steps with delight, 
" And her fair hand on the harp of melody."* 

In armour, hastily advanced the king ; 
He struck the shield, bossy, high ; Q55 

High upon the oak of storms, 
At Lubar of many streams.^ 
Seven bosses were on the shield ; 
The seven voices (words) of the king to his hosts, 



TRANSLATION. 

In his arms, strode the chief of Atha, to where his 
shield hung high, in night; high on a mossy bough, 
over Lubar's streamy roar.f Seven bosses rose on the 
shield ; the seven voices of the king, 



+ In Mr Macpherson's translation of these verses, we have a 
striking instance of his preposterous attempt to embellish the ori- 
ginal with his own bombast. There is nothing, in the original, of 
** night," or " mossy bough." " Streamy roar" seems to be a very 
absurd expression. 



34G TEMORA, BOOK VII. 

A thaomadh air osnadh nan speur 260 

Airfineachaibh mar nam Bolg. 

Air gach copan 'ta reul a" on oiche ; 
Ceann-mathon, nan rosg gun sgko ; 
Caol-darna, o' ntoil aig eiridh ; 
Iul-oiche, ami trusgan do cheo ; 0,65 

9 Ta Caoin ehallin, air carraig a dealra; 
Reul-dubhra, air gorm tlionn o 'n iar; 
Leth-chealach a soluis 'sail uisg ; 
'Ta Bear-thein', las-shuil nan sliabh, 
Sealladh sios d choille san aonach, 270 

Air mall shuibhal sealgair, 's e triall.* 
Roimh ghleannan an duibhre bhraonich 



MR MACPHERSON S 

which his warriors received from the wind, and marked 
over all their tribes. 

On each boss is placed a star of night; Can-mathon, 
with beams unshorn; Coldarna, rising from a cloud; 
Uloicho, robed in mist ; and the soft beam of Cathlin, 



* It is obvious, that, in the above passage, the " marking" of 
the sounds of the shield, the " laughing" of Reldurath, and the 



LITERALLY TRANSLATED. 347 

That poured on the sighs of the sky, 260 

Upon the mighty tribes of the Bolgi. 

On every boss is a star of night : 
Can-mathon, of unsullied eye (beam ;) 
Col-darna, from clouds arising; 
Uloiche, in a robe of mist ; 265 

Caon-callin, glittering on a rock ; 
Reuldura, on a blue wave in the west, 
Half concealing her light in the deep ; 
Berthein, the bright eye of the mountains, 
Looking down from a wood on the slope, 270 

On the slow course of the hunter, as he travels* 
Through the vale of showery gloom, 



TRANSLATION. 

glittering on a rock; laughing on its own blue wave, 
Reldurath half-sinks its western light; the red eye of 
Berthein looks, through a grove, on the hunter, as he re- 
turns, by night,* 



M redness" of Berthein's eye, are all interpolations of Mr Mac- 
pherson. 



348 TEMORA, BOOK VII. 

Le faobh rua-bhuic nan hum ard. 

Domhail, am meadhon an sgeijh, 

'Ta lasadh Tomi-theine, gun nevil, 275 

An rionnag a shea 11, roimh ri oiche, 

Air Learthon a chimin mhoir ; # 



with the spoils of the bounding roe. Wide, in the midst, 
arose the cloudless beam of Ton-thena, that star which 



* There occurs, perhaps, no passage, in all the poems ascri- 
bed to Ossian, which seems to afford a fairer field for scepticism, 
than this astronomical description of Cathmor's shield. It ap- 
pears, at first sight, to be a transcript of Homers description of 
the shield of Achilles, (II. xviii. v. 478.) and by far too refined for 
the period of Ossian. 

I shall only beg leave to remark, that the astronomy of this pas- 
sage extends no farther than what is well known to be common 
and ordinary, in the Highlands, at this day. In a country, where 
clocks and almanacks are not frequent, the rising of the Pleiades 
not only indicates the season of the year, but their progress in 
the sky shews the hour of night : the revolution of the Northern 
Bear is, at this day, the horary of the Highlanders : the phases 
of the moon are minutely attended to by every shepherd and pea- 
sant. 

The subject is important, and may excuse a short digression. 
It is remarkable, that, in the representation of the zodiac, given 



LITERALLY TRANSLATED. 349 

With the spoils of the high-bounding roe. 

Large, in the middle of the shield, 

Blazes Tonthena, without a cloud ; 275 

The star, that looked down through night, 

On Larthon, of the mighty ocean;* 



TRANSLATION. 

looked, by night, on the course of the sea-tossed Lar- 
thon.* 



by Denon, from an Egyptian ceiling, whilst there occurs much re- 
semblance to that of the Greeks, there are to be found, at the 
same time, such striking dissimilarities, as would seem to autho- 
rize the opinion, that men, in very different ages and countries, 
have entertained similar imaginations, and formed very similar as- 
sortments of the constellations, without any mutual communica- 
tion, or concert. There is, it would seem, something in the ar- 
rangement of the constellations, which will naturally strike every 
eye in a somewhat similar manner. The Bear, the Canis Major, 
Orion, Bootes, the Bull, 6fc. have, from the remotest antiquity, at- 
tracted the attention of men; and, it is probable, that they have 
been designated, by nearly similar figures, in very distant nations 
and periods. The knowledge of them is common in the High- 
lands, and was probably more so in ancient times, when the 
Caledonians undertook long voyages, and were accustomed to 
traverse vast forests and lofty mountains, both by day and by 
night. 



350 TEMORA, BOOK VII. 

Learthon, ceannfeadhna nam Bolg, 

An c?udfhear a shuibhail air gaoith. 

Leathan sgaoileadh seoil bhan an righ, 280 

Gu Inisfail nan iomadh smth. 

Thaom oiche air aghaidh a chuain, 

Agiis ceathach nan trusgan dubh; 

Bha gaoith caochla gu dlu 's an speur; 

Leu?n loingeas o thonn gu tonn, 285 

y Nuair a dK eirich Tonn-theine nan stuagh ; * 

A caoin shealladh o' bhristeadh nan niaL 



MR MACPHERSON'S 

Larthon, the first of Bolga's race, who travelled on the 
winds. White-bosomed, spread the sails of the king, 
towards streamy Inisfail. Dun night was rolled before 
him, with its skirts of mist. Unconstant blew the winds, 



Were I allowed to offer a conjecture, with regard to the stars 
that adorned Cathmor's shield, I should say, that Ceun-mathon, 
rendered, by Mr Macpherson, " the Bear's Head," is Sirius, in 
Cams Major : — there is no remarkable star in the Bear's Head. 
Mr Macpherson translates Uloicho, " the ruler of night," falsely : 
—it is, " the guide of night," and, probably, means the Polar 
slur. Caoin-challin, literally, " the mild maiden," is perhaps 



LITERALLY TRANSLATED. 351 

Learthon, the chieftain of the Bolgi, 

The first man that travelled on winds. 

Wide spread were the white sails of the king, 280 

Towards Inisfail of many streams. 

Night poured upon the face of the main, 

And the vapour of dusky robes ; 

The winds shifted rapidly in the sky ; 

The vessel bounded from wave to wave, 285 

When rose Tonthena of the billows ; # 

Her mild look was from the bursting clouds. 



TRANSLATION. 

and rolled him from wave to wave. Then rose the 
fiery haired Ton-thena, and laughed * from her parted 
cloud. 



the bright star in Spica Virginis. Reldura is, perhaps, the setting 
Evening-star; for, it is not likely, that a distinction was then made 
between the fixed stars and the planets. 

* The " fiery hair," and the " laughing'* of Ton-thena, are al- 
together Mr Macpherson's. 



352 TEMORA, BOOK VII. 

B y aiteas do Learthon tein-iuil nam buadh, 

A dealradh air domhan nan sian, 

Fuidh shleagh Chathmor nan colg sean, 290 

Dhuisg an guth a dhuisgeadh bard.* 
Thaom iad dubh, o thaobh nan sliabh, 

Le clarsich ghrinn 's gach laimh. 

Le aiteas mor, sheas rompa an righ, 

Mar fhear-siubhail, ri teas la,f ann gleann, QQ5 

N' uair a cMuinneas efadda 's an reidh, 
Caoin ihorman sruthain nam beann; 



MR MACPHERSON S 

Larthon blessed the well-known beam, as it faintly 
gleamed on the deep. 

Beneath the spear of Cathmor rose that voice, which 
awakens bards.* They came, dark-winding, from every 



* That is : — Cathmor summoned the bards to amuse him with 
their songs in the night. 



LITERALLY TRANSLATED. 353 

Welcome (joy) to Larthon was the fiery guide to 

victory, 
Shining on the ocean of storms. 

Beneath the spear of Cathmor, of ancient feats, 
Awoke the voice that awakens bards.* 291 

They poured down, dark, from the skirts of the 

hills, 
Each with fine strung harp in his hand. 
With much joy, stood before them the king, 
Like a traveller, during the heat of the day,f in 
the valley, 29-5 

When he hears, afar, in the plain, 
The soft murmurs of the mountain streams ; 



TRANSLATION. 

side, each with the sound of his harp. Before them re- 
joiced the king, as the traveller, in the day of the sun,f 
when he hears, far-rolling around, the murmur of mossy 
streams ; 



-r " The day of the sun" is one of Mr Macpherson's fine expres- 
sions, totally unwarranted by the simplicity Of the original,, 
" Far-rolling" is of the same kind. 



354 EMORA, BOOK VII. 

Srutkain a bhriseas 's anfhasaich, 

O' charraig thaobh-ghlas nan ruadh-bhoc. 

" O arson a chluinneam guth an righ/* 300 

" N' am coddaily ann oiche namfras? 
" Amfacas tannais nach beo, 
" 'Measg £ aistin, aig aomadh glas ? 
" Air moil bheil an comhnuidhfuar, 
" Feitheamh fonn Fhonnair namjieagh ? f 305 

" *S lionmhor an siublial air reidh, 
(C Far an tog an siol an t* shleagh. 
(C No 'n eirich ar cronan air thus, 



streams that burst, in the desart, from the rock of 
roes. 

" Why," said Fonnar, " hear we the voice of the 
u king,* in the season of his rest ? Were the dim forms 



* Fonnar, one of the bards, addresses Cathmor. 

+ The exquisite beauty, and characteristic imagery, of the last 
four verses of the original, are miserably lost in Mr Macpherson'i 
translation. He seems not indeed to have caught the sense of the 

1 



LITERALLY TRANSLATED. S55 

Streams that burst in the desart, 
From the gray^-sided rock of roes. 

a Why do I hear the voice of the king/* 300 
" In the season of sleep, during the showery night ? 
<c Hast thou beheld the ghosts of the dead, 
" Amidst thy dreams, descending gray ? 
" Amongst the clouds is their dwelling cold, 
* Awaiting the song of Fonnar of feasts.f 305 
" Frequent are their visits (courses) on the plain, 
" Where their offspring lift the spear. 
" Or shall our song first arise, 



TRANSLATION. 

* of thy fathers bending in thy dreams ? Perhaps they 
" stand on that cloud, and wait for Fonnar's song : f 

* often they come to the fields, where their sons are to 
" lift the spear. Or shall our voice arise, 



passage, and glosses it with the first easy expression that occur- 
red, according to the practice ascribed to him by his friend Mir 
Morison. 



356 TEMORA, BOOK VII. 

" Mun f hear nach tog an f shleadh gu brath, 

" Fear-chosgairt, air gleann nan slogh 310 

<e Mhoma nan ioma bad? 

" Ni 7 n dichuimhrf dhamh dorcha nam blarj* 
i( Chinn-fheadhna nam bard o' thus, 
(< Togar cloch dha aig Lubhar nan cam, 

" Aite eomhnuidh do all Fholda, 's do cliu. 315 

" Ach taom 'm anam air am nan laoch; 
" Air na bliadhna 's ann d' eirich siad suas, 
" Air tonn Inisuaine nan colg. 



MR MACPHERSON S 

" for him, who lifts the spear no more ; he that consu- 
" med the field, from Moma of the groves?" 

" *Not forgot is that cloud of war, bard of other 
" times. High shall his tomb rise, on Moi-lena, the 



* Cathmor speaks. Fonnar had proposed to sing the atchieve- 
ments of Folda. Cathmor, whilst he professes a high esteem for 
that hero, to whom he promises to erect a monument, requests the 
bard to take another subject for his song, and to relate the expe- 
dition of Larthon. It appears pretty evident, that Mr Macpher- 



LITERALLY TRANSLATED. 357 

(< Of the man, who shall lift the spear no more, 
** The destroyer of the enemy in the populous vale; 
" The man from Moma of many groves ?" 311 

" I forget not that darkener of battles,* 
" Thou chief of the bards of old. 
<c A stone shall be raised to him at Lubar of mo- 
numents ; 
" A dwelling to Folda; and he shall have his fame. 
" But pour my soul on the times of heroes ; 316 
" On the years, in which they first arose, 
" On the waves of warlike Inisuaine. 



TRANSLATION. 

« dwelling of renown. But now roll back my soul to the 
" times of my fathers ; to the years when first they rose, 
* on Inis-huna's waves, 



son has misunderstood this whole passage, which has some diffi- 
culty. Where did he find his Moi-lena ? Why did he omit the 
name of Folda, whose actions Fonnar had proposed to sing ? 
Why does he always mistranslate taom " to pour, (verse 316.) to 
roll? 



358 TEMORA, BOOK VII. 

** M 'n aiteas do Chathmor amhain, 

" Cuimhne Lumoifi inis-uaine nan stogh ; # 320 

" Lumoin, talamh nan sruth, 

" Caoin-chomhnuidh nam ban-bhroilleach oigh." 



Fonnar's Song. 

<e f Lumoin nan sruth! 
" Tha thu dealradh air m' anamfein ; 
" Tha do ghrian air do thaobh, 325 

" Air carraig nan crann bu trom. 



MR MACPHERSON S 

Nor alone pleasant to Cathmor is the remembrance of 
wood-covered * Lumon ; Lumon of the streams, the " 
dwelling of white-bosomed maids." 



* The tvvouoiAEvou of Homer : Mr Macpherson's u wood-cover* 
ed," is a shameful mistranslation. 



LITERALLY TRANSLATED. 359 

" Nor delightful to Cathmor, alone, 
" Is the memory of Lumoin, well-peopled * island 
of verdure ; 320 

*' Lumoin ! the territory of streams, 
u The sweet abode of white-bosomed maids." 



Fonnar's Song 

" f Lumoin of streams ! 
" Thou brightenest upon my soul ; 
a Thy sun is on thy side, 325 

" On the rock of stately (heavy) trees. 



TRANSLATION. 

" t Lumon of the streams ! thou risest on Fonnar's 
« soul : thy sun is on thy side, on the rocks of thy bend- 
" ing trees. 



+ Here the bard, Fonnar, begins his song, and relates, in a most 
harmonious lyric strain, the expedition of Larthon, already allud- 
ed to in the description of Cathmor's shield, 



360 TEMORA, BOOK VII. 

" Tha f eilid chiar; 
i( Do dhearg bar-mhor measg nam bad, 
" A f akin air sliabh, 
" An colg-chu siubhal grad % * 330 

" Mall, air an reidh, 
" 'Ta ceumna na? noigh; 
" Oigh lamh gheal nan tend, 
" 'S am bogha crom, 's a mhagh, 
" Togail an gorm shuil tla, 335 

" 'n leadan bhar-bhuidh air sliabh namflath. 

" Ni 'm bheil ceumna Learthuin 's a bheinn, 



MR MACPHERSONS 

The dun roe is seen from thy furze : the deer lifts his 
branchy head ; for he sees, at times, the hounds, on 
the half-covered heath.* Slow, on the vale, are the 
steps of the maids ; the white-armed daughters of 



* A botanist will be disposed to question Mr Macpherson's in- 
troduction of furze and heath, though they are common in Caledo- 



LITERALLY TRANSLATED. 361 

" Thy dun roe, 
" Thy branchy red deer, is amidst the groves; 
" Beholding, upon the mountain, 
* The hound pursuing, rapid.* 330 

" Slow on the plain 
" Are the steps of the maidens ; 
" The white-handed maidens of the strings, (harps,) 
" With the bended bow, in the field, 
" Lifting their mild, blue, eyes, 335 

" From their yellow locks, to the mountain of the 
brave. 

<e The steps of Larthon are not on the mountain, 



TRANSLATION. 

" the bow : they lift their blue eyes to the hill, from 
** amidst their wandering locks. Not there is the stride 
* of Larthon, 



nia. Ossian has no allusion to these plants, or to the favourite 
idea of" half-covering." 



TEMORA, BOOK VII. 



u Ceann Inis nan °-eug uaine. 



" f Ta e togail dubh dharrach air tonn, 

" Ann camus Chluba nam iomadh stuagh ; 340 

" An dubh dharrach a bhuain e o Lurnoin, 

" Gu siubhal ar aghaidh a chuain. 

" Thionnda oigh an suilean tla, 

" 'n righ, man tuiteadh e sios* 

" N' imfacadh leo riamh an long, 345 

" Gear -mhar each ,f a chuain mhoir. 



MR MACPHERSON S 

" chief of Inishuna. He mounts the wave, on his own 
:e dark oak, in Cluba's ridgy bay; the oak, which he cut 
" from Lumon, to bound along the sea. The maids turn 



* The liberties taken by Mr Macpherson, in translating, seem 
to accumulate rapidly as he proceeds. He confounds entirely the 
sense of verses 333 and 334, where the maidens are distinguished 
by their skill on the harp, " nan teud" and also by their expert- 
ness in the bow, *' 's am bogha crom." The beautiful epithet, 
" leadan bhar bhuidh" which, indeed, it is difficult to translate 
with full effect, is miserably lost, in his " wandering locks." His 



LITERALLY TRANSLATED. 363 

" The chief of the island of green branches, (Inis- 

uaine ;) 
" He is raising the black oak on the waves, 
« In the bay of Cluba of many billows ; 340 

" The black oak, that he felled on Lumon, 
" To sail (travel) on the face of the ocean. 
(C The maidens turn aside their mild eyes, 
* From the king, lest he should fall:* 
<e For never had they beheld a ship 345 

Si Obliquely f riding on the mighty deep, 



TRANSLATION. 

(i their eyes away, lest the king should be lowly laid ; * 
" for never had they seen a ship, dark f rider of the 
" wave I 



" stride," instead of " steps," is wretched. From verse 340 to 344, 
ihere is much tameness and loss of imagery. 

t It appears, as was observed on verse 102, that Mr Macpher- 
son seems not to have understood the epithet cearr: — on that occa- 
sion, he declines translating it; on the present, he translates it 
falsely. It here expresses, with fine effect, the appearance pf a 
yefsej at sea, inclining to leeward, under a side-wind. 



3t>4 TEMORA, BOOK VII. 

" Ghlaodk anois an righ a ghaoth. 
u Mea&g # ceo na marra glais, 
i( Dh eirich Inisfaile gu gorm. 

iC Thuit gu dian oiche namfras. 350 

<c Bhuail eagal clann Bholga gu luath. 
(C Ghlan neoil o Thonn-theine nan stuagh. 

" Ann camns Ghulbainn dti aitich an long, 

" Far amfreagradh coille do thonn, 

" Bu chopach an sin an sruth, 355 

" charraig Dubh-umha nan cos, 

" 'S ann dealradh tannais nacli beo, 

u Le 9 n cruth chaochlaidheach fein.^ 



MR MACPHEKSON S 

" Now he dares to call the winds, and to mix * with 
" the mist of the ocean. Blue Inisfail rose, in smoke, 
*' but dark- skirted night came down. The sons of Bolga 
" feared. The fiery-haired Tonthena rose. Gulbin's 



* Perhaps there occurs not, in all this Book, a more glaring 
instance of misconception of the original, and of consequent mis- 
translation, than this. Mr Macpherson mistakes " measg^ 



LITERALLY TRANSLATED. 365 

K The king now invoked the wind. 
u Amidst* the mists of gray ocean, 

* Inisfail arose, blue. 

** Swift descended the showery night. 350 

" Fear suddenly seized the sons of the Bolgi. 

" The clouds cleared off from Ton-thena of the 

waves. 
" In the bay of Gulbin moored the ship, 
" Where woods re-echoed the waves. 
a Deep resounded there the strand, 355 

" From the rock of cavernous Du-thuma ; 

* Where gleam the ghosts of the dead, 
** In their own changeful forms. 



TKANSLATION. 

" bay received the ship, in the bosom of its echoing 
P woods. There issued a stream from Duthuma's horrid 
* cave ; where spirits gleamed, at times, with their half- 
" finished forms. 



" among," a preposition, for the kindred verb " to mix." The 
rest of this passage exhibits striking instances of mistranslation. 



366 TEMORA, BOOK VII, 

" Thanig aisUn gu Learthonn nan long, 

" Seachd samhlaidh do 9 n linn nach beo. 360 

" Ckualas an guth bristeadh trom;* 

" Chunncas an siol aim ceo; 

" Chunncas siol Atha nan colg, 

" 'S ami clanh, cinn-uidhe nam Bolg. 

" Thaom tad am feachda fein, 365 

" Mar cheat hack a tearnadh o *n bheinn, 

" 'Nuair a shuibhlas e glas,fa osnadh,f 

" Air Atha nan ioma dos. 

" Thog Learthon talla shamhla, 
fC Re caoinfhonn clarsaich nan teud. 370 

" Dh aom eilde Eirin o cheumna, 



MR MACPHERSON S 

" Dreams descended on Larthon; he saw seven spirits of 
" his fathers. He heard their half-formed words, and 
" dimly beheld the times to come. He beheld the kings 
" of Atha, the sons of future days. They led their 



* Trom, literally, heavy. 

+ Mr Laing laughs at the use of the term autumn, in poems of 
the period of Ossian. He will see, that the term, in this instance. 



LITERALLY TRANSLATED. 367 

"** A dream came to Larthon of ships, 

" Seven apparitions of the race of the dead. 360 

" Their voice was heard, bursting, solemn; # 

" Their offspring was seen in mist ; 

a There was seen the race of warlike Atha, 

" And their children, leaders of the Bolgi. 

" They poured their hosts, 365 

" Like mist descending from the mountain, 

" When it passes along, gray, beneath the breeze,f 

<f On Atha of many groves. 

" Larthon built the palace of apparitions, 
<e To the soft melody of the stringed harp. 370 
a The roes of Erin yielded (fled) before his steps ; 



TRANSLATION. 

hosts, along the field, like ridges of mist, which winds 
pour, in autumn,* over Atha of the groves. 
" Larthon raised the hall of Samla, to the music of 
the harp. He went forth to the roes of Erin, 



at least, is not Ossian's, but Mr James Macpherson's, or* thtz 
eighteenth century. 



368 TEMORA, BOOK VII. 



" Jig aisrigh ghlas nan smth. 



" Ni 'n dichuimhn' dha Lumoin uaine, 

" Na Flathal gheal-lamliach nam buadhj* 

" 'Si coimhead air mar each nan tonn, 375 

" O thu/aich nan eilde ruadh. 

" Lumoin nan sruth i 
" Tha thu dealradh air m anamfein."f 



" to their wonted streams. Nor did he forget green-headed 
H Lumon. He often bounded over his seas, to where white- 



* Nam buadh signifies, literally, " of victories," and may be 
translated, " excellent, matchless." Flathal was the wife of Lar- 
thon, and watched the return of his ship. Mr Macpherson evi- 
dently misunderstands this passage, when he interpolates, " he 
" often bounded over his seas." In the original, Larthon is not 
said to revisit Flathal, but only to remember her. 

+ Besides the elegancies which have been taken notice of, as 
lost in Mr Macpherson's translation, and which must, in some 
measure, be lost in every translation, there is one which, though it 
has the finest effect in the original, cannot possibly be recognised 
by the English reader. It is this ; — The whole of Fonnar's Song, 
from verse 303 to verse 378, is given in the Gaelic, in the form of an 
ode, in lyric measure, of the most harmonious structure, and, pro- 
bably, adapted to the harp. This, it may be permitted to ob- 



LITERALLY TRANSLATED. 369 

* On the gray hills of many streams. 

" Nor did he forget verdant Lumon, 

" Or Fiathal, white-handed dame of excellence,* 

" Whilst she watches the riding of the waves, 375 

" From the eminence of tawny roes. 

" Lumon of streams J 
f< Thou brightenest upon my soul." f 



TRANSLATION. 

" handed Flathal* looked from the hill of roes. Lumon of 
" the foamy streams ! thou risest on Fonnar's soul." f 



serve, is a refinement of verse which was unknown to the heroic 
poets of Greece and Rome, whose measure, whatever be the sub- 
ject, proceeds uniformly in the same unvaried numbers. If, in 
the whole compass of the heroic poetry of the ancients, there be 
an occasion, on which we should expect a variation of measure, 
similar to that of this Ossianic ode, it is in the Odyssey of Homer, 
(lib. xii. v. 184.) where the song of the Syrens is introduced ; and 
where we feel some sort of disappointment, in not meeting with a 
more ample specimen of that bewitching melody. This very 
singular elegance of poetry is exhibited in the original of the pas- 
sage before us ; but who will say, that it is to be attributed to Mr 
Macpherson, who has lost it so completely in his own transla- 
tion ? 



2 A 



370 TEMORA, BOOK VII. 

Mhosguil gath solluis o y n ear : 
Dli eirich ard chinn cheathaich nam beann : 380 
Chuncas air cladach nan gleannan, 
An crom chaockan glas-shruthachfein : * 
Chualas sgiath Chathmhoir nan colg : 
Mhosguil siol Eirin nam Bolg, 
Mar mhuir dhomhail, 'n uair a ghluaiseas gu geur 385 
Fuaim ataidh air aghaidh nan spear, 
Taomadh tuinn,f o thaobh gn taobh, 
Aig aomadh an glas-chinn baogh, 
Gun eolas air suibhal a chuain.% 



MR MACPHERSON'S 

Morning pours from the east. The misty heads of 
the mountains rise. Valleys shew, on every side, the 
gray winding of their streams.* His host heard the 
shield of Cathmor. At once, they rose around, like a 



* The translator is sensible, that he has not been able to do jus- 
tice to this beautiful description of the morning, the favourite 
theme of poets. It can be duly felt and admired by those only who 
have had an opportunity of observing these appearances in a 
mountainous country. 



LITERALLY TRANSLATED. S71 

A ray of light awoke in the east : 
The lofty heads of the mountains rose in mist : 380 
There was seen, in the bottom of every valley, 
Its own winding, blue-flowing stream : * 
There was heard the shield of warlike Cathmor : 
The race of Bolgic Erin was roused, 
Like the turgid sea, when fiercely advances 385 
The sound of swelling winds, on the face of the sky; 
Tumbling -f* the waves from side to side, 
As they incline their gray, troubled, heads, 
In ignorance of the course of the ocean. J 



TRANSLATION. 

crowded sea, when first it feels the wings of the wind. 
The waves know not whither to roll; they lift their 
troubled heads. \ 



+ Perhaps better " taomidh tuinn" — " billows tumble, ia- 
" dining." 

J This simile, — ia which the host of Cathmor, awakening from 
sleep, and advancing in undetermined movements, at the first 
sound of his shield, is compared to the undecided motions of the 
tallows, when the sea is first assailed by the winds,— -though ex- 



3T2 TEMORA, BOOK VII. 

Trom is mail gu Loji nan sruth, 390 

Ghluais Suilmhala nan rosg tla ; 
Ghluais; is thionnda it oigh le bron, 
A gorm shuilfuidh shilleadh bla. 
9 N uair a thanig i gu carraig chruaidh 
Dubh-chroma, air gleannan arm Lon,* 395 

Shea 11 i, o bhristeadh a ceil. 
Air righ Atha, dK aom i sios. 

4< Buail tend, a mhic Alpin namfonn, 



MR MACPHERSON S 

Sad and slow retired Suilmalla to Lona of the streams. 
She went, and often turned; her blue eyes rolled in 
tears. But, when she came to the rock, that darkly co- 



tremely beautiful and appropriate, is of singular difficulty in 
translating. Mr Macpherson has given the general idea very 
slightly, but justly. The present translation is literal. 

Mr Laing has remarked, that the expression here used by Mr 
Macpherson, i( the wings of the wind," is borrowed from Bu- 
chanan's Psalms. It has been shewn already, that it is much 
more ancient than Buchanan. It will appear now, that, in this 
instance at least, Ossian has nothing to do with it. 

• Perhaps better " an Loin." 



LITERALLY TRANSLATED. 373 

Sad and slow, to streamy Lona, 390 

Retired Suilvala, of the mild eye ; 
She retired ; but the maiden returned in sorrow, 
Her blue eye bathed in warm tears. 
When she arrived at the rugged rock 
Of Du-chroma, in the vale of Lona, 395 

She looked, in the distraction of her mind, 
On the king of Atha, and sunk down. 

" Strike the string, son of melodious Alpin. 



TRANSLATION. 



vered Lona's vale, she looked, from her bursting soul, on 
the king, and sunk at once behind. 
a Son of Alpin, strike the string. 



374 TEMORA, BOOK VII. 

" Am bheil solas ann clarsaich nan nialf * 

u Taom air Ossein ; agns ossun gn trom, 400 

<c Ta anam a snamh ann ceo. 

" Chualas thu, bhaird, a 'm oiche ; 

u Ach siubhladh fonn eatrom uamfein; *j- 

" 'S aiteas caoin thuireadh do dlH Ossein > J 

" Am bliadhna ciar na Ji aoise. 405 



Is there aught of joy in the harp ? * pour it, then, on 
the soul of Ossian ; it is folded in mist. 



* Mr Macpherson translates this of " the harp" in general; but 
the poet is here addressing a deceased bard, and requests him to 
solace him in his solitary sadness, with his aerial harp, which, ac- 
cording to the well-known mythology of the Caledonians, was 
imagined to be heard, from time to time, in the passing breeze. 
It is here properly called " the harp of the clouds." 

t Mr Macpherson's translation of this verse is probably intend- 
ed to be very fine j and is, perhaps, very 6ne ; but the finery is not 
Ossian's. 



LITEItALLY TRANSLATED. 315 

" Is there delight in the harp of the clouds ? # 

" Pour it on Ossian, whilst his sigh is heavy ; 400 

" His soul swims in mist. 

" I have heard thee, O bard, in my night, (blind- 
ness ;) 
" But let light airs depart from me.f 
u Mild sadness (sorrow) is the delight of Ossian, J 
a In his gray years of age. 405 



TRANSLATION. 

" I hear thee, O bard, in my night. But cease the 
lightly-trembling sound.f The joy of grief belongs 
to Ossian,^ amidst his dark-brown years. 



£ " The joy of grief" is one of those expressions, on which Mr 
Laing animadverts, as too refined for the period of Ossian. The 
learned gentleman is right ; aud he will be pleased to find, that it 
is not Ossian's, but Mr James Macpherson's. Indeed, a very 
slight analysis will be sufficient to shew, that this noted expres- 
sion, " the joy of grief," borders, very nearly, upon the confines 
of nonsense. Might we not as well say, " the whiteness of black- 
" ness ;" " the softness of hardness ;" or, with an ingenious gen- 
tleman, who, speaking of the ebbing sea, observed, " that th* 
" tide was highly low V 



376 TEMORA, BOOK VII. 

" A dhreuthan name, thulaich nan taibhse 
" A tlmomas do cheann air gaoith oiche, 
C{ Ni bheil f fhathrom am chluaisfein ; 
" Nafaiteal tannais ann do gheug ghlais. 
" 'Slio?imhor ceumna nam marbh bu treun, 410 

" Air osnaibh dubh aisrigh nan sian, 
" W uair a gfiluaseas a ghealach o'n ear, 
" Mar ghlas-sgiath, dubh-shiubhal nan speur. 

" Ullin, a Charril, a Raono ! 
" Cuth aimsir a dfi aom o shean, 415 

" Cluinneam sibh ann dorchadas Shelma, 
" Agus mosgluibhse anam nan dan. 
" Ni 'n cluinneam sibh a shiol namfonn ! 
" Cia 'n talla do neoil am bheil 'ur main ? 
" Na Vi tribhuail sibh clarsach nach trom, 420 



MR MACPHERSON S 

" Green thorn of the hill of ghosts, that shakest thy 
" head in nightly winds ! I hear no sound in thee. Is 
u there no spirit's windy skirt now rustling in thy leaves? 
" Often are the steps of the dead in the dark-eddying 
" blasts, when the moon, a dun shield from the east, is 
" rolled along the sky. 



LITERALLY TRANSLATED. 317 

" Green thorn of the eminence of ghosts, 
" That bendest thy head in the wind of night, 
" Thy rustling is not in my ear ; 
" No music of ghosts in thy green branches. 
" Frequent are the steps of the valiant dead, 410 
" On the breezes of the dusky ascent of storms, 
" When the moon advances from the east, 
" Like a gray shield, darkly traversing the sky. 

** Ullin, and Carril, and Ryno! 
<c Voices of the time that has passed of old, 415 
" Let me hear you in the darkness of Selma, 
" And awaken the soul of song. 
" I hear you not, ye race of melody ! 
" In what recess of the clouds is your slumber? 
" Do ye touch (strike) the airy harp, 420 



TRANSLATION. 

*' Ullin, Carril, and Ryno, voices of the days of old ! 
" let me hear you, while yet it is dark, to please and 
* awake my soul. I hear you not, ye sons of song : in 
" what hall of the clouds is your rest ? Do ye touch the 
C( shadowy harp, 



378 TEMORA, BOOK VII. 

" Ann trusgan ceo-maidne, is gruaim ; 
" Far an eirich, gufualmar, a ghrian,* 
" O stuaigh nan ceann glas ? 



MR MACPHERSON S 
" robed with morning mist, where the rustling sun 



* It is siill a notion, amongst the vulgar, in the Highlands of 
Scotland, that the sun, as he rises, and passes along in the firma- 
ment, makes a rustling noise, which may be heard. It may not 
be uninteresting to those, who study the history of the human 
mind, which is often developed in popular superstitions, to trace 
similar notions in another people, placed in nearly the same state 



LITERALLY TRANSLATED. 379 

" In the gloomy skirts of morning's mist, 

" Where rises, resounding, the sun,* 

u From the green-headed waves of the east?" 



TRANSLATION. 
" comes forth from its green-headed waves ? 



of society with the Caledonians. Tacitus, (De Mor. Germ. c. 45.) 
speaking of the Suiones, (the Swedes,) says, " that they believe, 
" that the sound of the emerging sun is heard ; and that the forms 
" of the gods, and the rays of their heads, are seen." Does Taci- 
tus, in the latter clause of this sentence, allude to the phenomenon 
of the Aurora Borealis, so conspicuous in those regions ? 



APPENDIX 



APPENDIX, 
No. I. 



AN 



ENQUIRY 



INTO THE EXISTENCE OF THE 



DRUIDICAL ORDER IN SCOTLAND. 



1 he singular fatality, by which the Celts have 
lost their once widely- extended influence in 
western Europe, furnishes a very striking circum- 
stance, even amidst the multiplied vicissitudes 
which occur in the history of nations. That they 
occupied, at one period, the whole territory, ex- 
tending from the Straits of Gibraltar to the north- 
ern extremity of Scotland, is generally allowed, 
In the times previous to Caesar ? s invasion of Bri- 
tain, they were, by the testimony of Tacitus, still 



384 APPENDIX. 

more powerful than at that period. The Celtic 
Gauls extended their incursions into Germany, as 
far as Bohemia,, to which one of their tribes gave 
its name.* 

The impression of national character and man- 
ners is not soon, or easily, effaced . Much Celtic 
blood, more or less contaminated, runs, at this 
day, in the veins of every inhabitant of western 
Europe ; and much of the influence of Celtic cha- 
racter may still be traced. How the Gothic rage, 
of undervaluing every thing that is Celtic, has be- 
come, of late, so fashionable, it is not easy to say ; 
but, in a philosophical point of view, it will pro- 
bably be allowed, that some account of the few re- 
maining traces of the institutions of that once 
powerful people, is a desideratum, in literature, 



* Tac. de Mor. Germ. c. 28. 

The numerous settlements of the Celts, on the eastern side of 
the Rhine, as Casaubon well observes, ( Animadversiones in lib. iv. 
Slrabonis,) may be traced in the names of cities and places 
which end in dunum, " a Celtic word," says he, " which signifies 
" an eminence" He adds, " that all places, so called, are actu- 
" ally situated on an eminence. Dun, in Gaelic, has still this sig- 
11 nification." 



APPENDIX. 3S5 

which it were well worthy of our most learned an- 
tiquarians to supply. 

Of these, one of the most singular and import- 
ant is that of Druidism, which is attributed, uni- 
versally, by the Greek and Roman writers, to the 
nations of Celtic stock. " As the Persians," says 
Diogenes Laertius, " have their Magi, and the 
" Indians their Gymnosophists, the Celts have 
" their Druids and their Semnothei." # The reli- 
gion of the Druids extended over all Transalpine 
Gaul;f and, as we shall see afterwards, prevailed 
even on the Italian side of the Alps. From an ex- 
pression of Pliny, it would appear, that it extended 
also to Spain and Portugal .J 

With regard to the existence of the Druidical 



* Diog. Laert. in Proemio. 

+ See Ausonius Carm. 10. — Flavius Vopiscus in Numeriano, 
informs us, that the ilmperor Diocletian, whilst yet a subaltern in 
the army, lodged with a Druidess in Tungria, (now Brabant,) 
who predicted to him, that he should be, one day, emperor ; a 
prediction on which he uniformly relied, till it was accom- 
plished. 

J " Celticos, (a people of Spain,) a Celtiberis, ex Lusiiania ad- 
vcnisse manifestum est. sacris, lingua, oppidorum vocabulis."' 

Plin. Hist. Nat. lib. iii. c. 3„ 



SB 



S86 APPENDIX. 

order in Britain, all authors agree. Caesar, whose 
account of this hierarchy is unquestionably the 
most authentic, as well as the most liberal, informs 
us, that their institutions were first invented in 
Britain ; * and that the youth, who wished to be 
instructed in them, resorted thither, from the other 
parts of Celtic Europe. Pliny, at a still later pe- 
riod, informs us, " that the magical arts of the 
u Druids were cultivated in Britain with so much 
" attention, that this island should seem to have 
" first communicated those arts to the Persians," 
who so much excelled in them.f 

But it must be remembered, that, at the period 
of which we speak, Caledonia, also, was inhabited 
by Celts. Indeed, it seems to be certain, that the 
Caledonians, especially those who occupied the 
western part of the island, were of the very same 



* " Jbi disciplina repertd." — Bell. Gall. lib. vi. 

+ " Britannia hodie earn (scilicet Druidarum magicam artem) 
" attonile celebrat, tantis ceremoniis, ut dedisse Persis videri possit." 
The Oriental origin of Druidism, as well as of many other im* 
portant particulars in the manners of the Celts, will receive 
strong confirmation from the proposed work of the ingenious Mr 
Gunn, who has already traced so successfully the history of* lit 
Caledonian harp. 

10 



APPENDIX. 88T 

race with their southern neighbours, wno, accord- 
ing to the opinion of Baeda, already cited, emigra- 
ting originally from Gaul, by the nearest passage, 
fan expedition suited to the imperfect navigation 
of the times,) and, travelling northwards, arrived, 
at length, in Caledonia. This progress of popula- 
tion has, we know, taken place universally, in the 
old world. From the account given by Caesar, of 
the navigation of the Veneti of Brittany, and of 
their early intercourse with this island, it is ren- 
dered highly probable, that Britain received its 
first inhabitants from that quarter s and this also is 
the opinion of Tacitus, who enjoyed such a favour- 
able opportunity of being well informed on this 
subject. After noticing the various opinions which 
had been advanced, concerning the original popu- 
lation of this island, he adds, " To one, who forms 
" his opinion upon the whole, it appears credible, 
" that the Gauls occupied this territory, which lay 
" in their vicinity. In the superstitions of the one, 
<c you may trace the sacred rites of the other. Their 
" language is not very different." # 

* " In universum tamen astimanti" 6fc. — Agric. c. IK 



3S8 APPENDIX. 

* 

Such was the matured opinion of this acute his- 
torian; nor let it be objected, that South Britain 
only is intended in this passage. Tacitus, though 
he sometimes distinguishes those who inhabited to 
the north of the walls, by the name of Caledo- 
nians, just as frequently applies to them that of 
Britons.* 

If, then, Caledonia was inhabited by Celts, who, 
passing northwards from Gaul, by South Britain, 
carried along with them, as we know they did, the 
language of Gaul, by what mode of reasoning can 
it be argued, that they left behind them the reli- 
gious institutions of their ancestors ? By every 
argument, founded on analogy, we are led to con- 
clude, that, with the language, and other habits of 
their original soil, they also carried with them the 
Celtic institution of Druidism. 

That Druidism prevailed in Ireland, there is 
abundant proof. In a very ancient work, the Trias 
Thaumaturga of Colgan, we have a hymn, addres- 
sed to St Patrick, in the Irish language, by Fia- 



* Agric. c. 25. 26. 27. and 29. where the soldiers of Galgacu* 
are termed Britons. 



APPENDIX. 389 

chus, who is denominated, " Episcopus Sleptensis:" 
it begins thus : 

" Genair Padruic in Nemthur." 

In this hymn, there occurs frequent mention of 
the Druids. I shall select one, in verses 41 and 
42: 

" A Dhruidhe, ar Laoghaire, 
" Tichte Phadruic ni cheiltis." 

That is: — " Thou, O Druid, didst not conceal from 
Leogaire, the arrival of Patrick." 

In a well-written Itinerary of Ireland, published 
in Dublin, in 1787, by Robert Wilson, I find the 
following passage : — 

" In 1784, there was found a curious tomb- 
" stone, on Callan mountains, (in Irish, Altoir na 
" greine, or c the altar of the sun/J about eight 
<e miles west of the town of Ennis, with the folio w- 
" ing inscription, in Irish : — c Beneath this flag is 
" interred Connan, the turbulent and swift-footed/ 
" The stone is of granite, between seven and eight 
" feet long, and from three to four in breadth. In 
ee an historical tale," says Mr Wilson, " written, 



390 APPENDIX. 

" as is supposed, by Ossin, in 296, the author thus 
" apostrophises : — ' But the intrepid hero, Conan, 
e< was not at this bloody battle ; for, going to the 
" adoration of the sun, on the preceding May, # he 
" was cut off by the Leinster troops, and his body 
<c lies interred on the north-west side of the dreary 
" mountain of Callan/ This stone," adds the wri- 
ter of the Itinerary, " has been long celebrated in 
" the county of Clare. On the south side of this 
" mountain, is a very large Druidical altar, the 
<e most regular of the kind now remaining, and of 
" the highest antiquity. It stands about half a 
■" mile distant from the high road leading from 
" Ennis to Ibraban, on the right hand." 

The direct proof of the existence of Druidism 
in Scotland is, it must be acknowledged, of consi- 
derable difficulty; arising partly from the nature of 
the institution itself, and partly from the long pe- 
riod that has elapsed since its abolition. 

The Druids, as we are informed by ancient au- 
thors, affected secrecy in a high degree. They 



* See, afterwards, of the worship of Belis, or Belenus, the Suit, 
>y the Celts. 



APPENDIX. 391 

retired from the observation of the world, into 
thick groves and forests.* and studiously conceal- 
ed their mysteries from the vulgar. " They 
" taught obscurely/' says Laertius, " and in short 
" sentences, that the gods are to be worshipped ; 
" and that no evil should be done/' 

Seventeen centuries, too, have elapsed, since 
this order has been abolished. In England, as we 
learn from Tacitus, it had been abolished at a still 
earlier period. Indeed, the Druids appear to have 
rendered themselves universally obnoxious to the 
ruling powers, both at home and abroad, by their 
ambition, and by their cruel rites. Augustus, on 
account of their horrid sacrifices, forbade the ex- 
ercise of the Druidical rites to the citizens of 
Rome ; Tiberius banished the professors of this 
institution from the city ; and Claudius endeavour- 
ed, as far as in him lay, to extirpate Druidism, 
even in Gaul itself, f 

We need not wonder, then, that so few monu- 



* See Lucan's Pharsalia, lib. i. 

+ Pliny Hist. Nat. lib. xxx. c. l.j Suetonius in Augusto, Ti~ 
berio, et Claudio ; and Aurelius Victor. 



392 APPENDIX. 

merits of this ancient hierarchy have remained to 
these times; or that, in the slight notices which 
ancient historians afford us of the state of Caledo- 
nia^ at this early period, we should have little in- 
formation concerning our Druids. Mr Laing ob- 
serves, " that the fact appears to be certain, that 
" there never was a Druid in Scotland ; other- 
" wise," says he, " Tacitus, who describes the de- 
" struction of their order in England, must have 
" remarked their influence, or existence, in the 
" Caledonian war."* 

But I may be permitted to remark, that, if this 
argument be good for any thing, it might also 
serve to prove, that there never were any Druids in 
England. In the very minute and interesting de- 
tail, which is given by Tacitus, of the conduct of 
the war, under Ostorius, and of the final defeat 
and captivity of Caractacus/j- we meet not with 
the slightest allusion to " the influence, or exist- 
" ence, of the Druids" in England. It appears, 
indeed, that, as far as regards the testimony of Ta- 



* Page 391. 

+ Tac. Annal. lib xii. c. 33. 



APPENDIX. 393 

citus, had the fourteenth book of his Annals, in 
which the history of the extermination of the 
Druids in England is narrated, shared the same 
fate with some other portions of his valuable wri- 
tings, we should have had no evidence, from him, 
that the order had ever existed there. Nor does 
it appear, that, even in this instance, Tacitus 
would have made mention of the fate of the 
Druids, had it been merely a domestic transaction, 
as it is represented to have been in Scotland. But 
the fortunes of the Druids were, on this occasion, 
intimately connected with Roman history. Pub- 
lius Suetonius, the Roman governor, had resolved 
on an expedition against Anglesea, then a recep- 
tacle of deserters. Anglesea was the sacred re- 
treat, and chief residence, of the Druids. Though 
exempted from the services of war, they stand for- 
ward in defence of their sanctuary, and are de- 
stroyed. 

Thus, the mention of the Druidical Order oc- 
curs necessarily, on this occasion, in the historian ; 
but it was inconsistent with the classical correct- 
ness of the biographer of Agricola to violate the 
unity of his subject, by any direct notices of a 



394 APPENDIX. 

class of men, whose history and character were al- 
together foreign to it. Nor can it be fairly infer- 
red, that, even in the life of Agricola, no allusion 
is made to " the influence and existence" of the 
Druids in Caledonia. We read, concerning the 
preparations which were made against the Ro- 
mans, before the battle of the Grampians, " that 
" the Britons relaxed in no respect in their exer- 
" fcions, in arming the youth, and in confirming 
" the combination of the states, by public meek 
" ings, and by sacrifices"* But what sacrifices, it 
may be asked, were ever practised, or heard of, 
amongst the Celts, except the horrid immolations 
of the Druids ? 

But, though no direct evidence is furnished, by 
the Greek and Roman writers, of the existence of 
the Druids in Caledonia, it might be expected, 
that, from the permanent state of society in the 
Highlands, during so many ages, some internal 
proofs, at least, might be found in the traditions, 
and popular superstitions, of the country. 



* Tac. Agric. c. 87. 



APPENDIX. 395 

1. As to tradition, it is uniform and express; 
# that the family of Fingal, having been appoint- 
iC ed, according to the custom of the Celts,* on 
f* some emergency, to the temporary sovereignty, 
" found themselves so firmly established in their 
" power, that they refused to resign it to the 
<( Druids, as had been done on former occasions ; 
" that the Druids endeavoured to reduce the Fin- 
" gallians by force, calling in the Scandinavians 
" (the people of Lochlin) to their aid ; but that 
" they were overcome, and finally extermina- 
"ted."f 

There is reason to believe, at the same time, 
that, notwithstanding the extinction of the Druids, 
as an order, several individuals of them continued 
to exist, under the patronage of princes and great 
men, for several centuries after the period of Fin- 
gal. In Adomnan's Life of St Columba, we read 
of the Mocidruidi, or " sons of the Druids," in 
Scotland. In the same work, we are informed, 



* See Caesar de Bell. Gall. lib. i. c. 15. 

+ See the poems entitled, " Dargo, the Son of the Druid of 
" Bel," and " Conn, the Son of Dargo," in Dr Smith's Seandcma 3 
p. 223 and 245. 



396 APPENDIX. 

" that, at the castle of the king, the saint was 
" interrupted, in the discharge of his religious 
" offices, by certain Magi f by whom, according 
to the application of the term by Pliny, in the 
passage cited above, we are undoubtedly to under- 
stand the Druids.* 

It appears, that it is this same circumstance, 
which is related in an extract from an ancient 
Gaelic manuscript of the twelfth or thirteenth 
century, of which a fac-simile is given in the Ap- 
pendix to the Committee's Report, and which is 
thus translated by Dr Donald Smith : — 

" After this, St Columba went, upon a time, to 
" the king of the Picts ; namely, Bruidhi, son of 
u Milchu, and the gate of the castle was shut 
"against him; but the iron locks of the town 
te opened instantly, through the prayers of Columb 
" Cille. Then came the son of the king, to wit, 



* I cite the entire passage from Adomnan : — " Juxta Brudeci 
munitionem, dum ipse sanctus, cum paucis fratribus del laudes, ex 
more celebrarent, quidam Magi ad eos propius accedentes, in quan- 
tum poteran?., prohibere conabantur; ne de ore ipsorum divines lau- 
dis sonus inter Gentiles audiretur populos. 

Vita S. Columbae, lib. i. c. 38. 



APPENDIX. 397 

i( Maelchu, and his Druid, to argue keenly against 
" Columb Cille, in support of Paganism."* 

2. In the superstitions still prevalent in the 
Highlands of Scotland, we meet with very distinct 
traces of the character and fate of the Druids. 
Toland, in his Essay on the Druids, first remark- 
ed, that, in the popular belief concerning the 
Fairies, or, as they are called by the Highlanders, 
the Daoine shith, or " Men of Peace," we have the 
evident reliques of the history of the Druidical 
Order. This elegant mythology is still to be found 
entire in the Highlands, f And it may be obser- 
ved, that, in the habitations assigned to these 
imaginary beings, we may trace the sacred reces- 
ses of the Druids ; and, in the deceptive powers 
ascribed to them, their magical arts. In the 
peevish jealousy and envy, which they are sup- 



* App. Report, p. 311. 

t Of this mythology, with the argument founded on it, I have 
bad occasion to give an account, at some length, in a small tract, 
entitled, " Sketches of Picturesque Scenery in Perthshire, with 
" Notices concerning the Natural History and Popular Super- 
" stitions of the Country." 



398 APPENDIX. 

posed to entertain against mankind, we may re- 
cognise the feelings of a once powerful order, who 
found themselves at length reduced to seek shel- 
ter in caves, and in forests ; deprived of the high 
influence, which they had enjoyed ; and stripped, 
no doubt, of the wealth which they had accumu- 
lated, through a series of ages. 



APPENDIX. 399 



DRUIDICAL CIRCLES. 

Another circumstance, which seems to prove 
incontestibly the existence of the Druids in Scot- 
land, is the frequency of the circles of stones, the 
places of Druidical worship, especially in the 
northern and western counties. These are called 
clachans, " the stones," by the Highlanders ; the 
term most commonly used by them, at this day, 
for a place of worship. These circles abound in 
the western isles, particularly in the Harris, which 
is said to have been, like Anglesea, one of the 
sacred retreats of the Druids. * Toland mentions 
several of these circles ; and Mr Pennant de- 
scribes one of them very particularly, f 

Within a few hundred yards of the place where 
I now sit, there is a clachan, or circle of stones, 



* See Henry's History of Britain, book i. cbap. 2. \ 1. 
+ Tour, yoI. ii. p. 38. 



400 



APPENDIX. 



still called the " Clachan of Aberfoyle." It is si- 
tuated on a rising ground, facing the south ; and 
preserved inviolate from the plough. It is twenty 
feet in diameter precisely, and consists of fourteen 
oblong stones, of a rude shape, and from four to 
five feet in length ; there is placed, in the centre, 
one stone, of a more regular figure, and evidently 
assisted by the hand of art. It is four feet six 
inches in height, three feet six inches in breadth, 
and sixteen inches in thickness ; it terminates, at 
the top, in a sharp spherical angle, and is nearly 
of the following figure : 




APPENDIX. 401 



AH these stones appear formerly to have stood on 
one end, but have now fallen down. There is a 
wider interval, or opening, between the stones of 
the circumference, facing the meridian. 



%C 



402 APPENDIX. 



THE 



FESTIVALS 



OF THE 



BELTEIN AND SAMHIN. 

1 h e Highlanders still retain distinct traces of the 
two grand festivals of the Druids ; the Beltein, or 
Fire of Belis, the Sun, or Apollo of the Celts ; and 
the Samh-thein, or Samhin, the Fire of Peace, 
kindled on Hallow-eve. The Beltein was the fes- 
tival of the commencement of the Druidical year, 
the first of May; and is, at this day, the term 
used to denote that season. According to tradi- 
tion, the people assembled, on that day, on the 
summits of the highest mountains, and kindled 
large fires in honour of Belis, or the Sun, the be- 
neficent parent of the joys of summer. The Samh- 
in, again, or Fire of Peace, was kindled on the 
evening preceding the first day of winter, when, 

s 



APPENDIX. 403 

according to tradition, the people assembled on 
the tops of hills and eminences, to have justice 
administered to them by the Druids, and to re- 
ceive a portion of the sacred fire, for the use of 
their habitations, during the ensuing season. This 
festival is still, in some degree, observed, over a 
great part of Scotland, by kindling fires on Sal- 
low-eve, on hills and eminences, and by many su- 
perstitious rites, evidently borrowed from the Drui- 
dical mysteries.* 

I consider, then, this worship of Be ] is, the Apollo 
of the Celts, which prevailed in Caledonia; and 
the preservation of his proper appellation, in the 
name of the festival which was celebrated in ho- 
nour of him ; together with many expressions f 
and allusions to this name, which still remain, as 
affording an irrefragable proof of the existence of 
Druidism in Scotland. 

Mr Laing, indeed, treats with scorn, " this ety- 
" mology of Bd-tein, from Bel, an Assyrian deity," 



» See these superstitions beautifully illustrated by Bums, in his 
poem, entitled, " Hallow-e'en." 

t Thus, Gabha-oheil, or " the jeopardy of Bel," the fiery ordeal, 
js (be terra still used to denote imminent danger. 



404 APPENDIX. 

says he, ironically, " once worshipped in theHigh- 
" lands of Scotland."* But, notwithstanding the 
decisive tone of the learned gentleman, I must be 
permitted to observe, on the unquestionable au* 
thority of ancient authors, that, whilst Bel, or 
Belis, was an Assyrian, he was also a Celtic, divi- 
nity, worshipped in the very western extremity of 
Celtic Europe. 

In the account given by Julius Capitolinus, of 
the siege of Aquileia, in Cisalpine Gaul, we are 
informed, that " the god Belenus, their Apollo, 
" fought in defence of the besieged." In Grute- 
rus, accordingly, we have an account of several 
altars, found in that city, inscribed a Apollini Be- 
«leno"f 

Nor was Belenus the Apollo of Cisalpine Gaul 
only, but also of the Transalpine. From the 
poems of Ausonius, we learn, that Belenus was the 
god of the Druids, and worshipped by the Armo- 
rici,J the inhabitants of that part of Gaul which 



* Page 434. note, 

+ See Gherardus Joan. Vossius, de Origine et Progressu Idolo- 
latriae, Tom. i. p. 389, &c. 

J See Plinii Hist. Nat. lib. iv. c. 31. with the note of Father 



APPENDIX. 405 

extends along the Bay of Biscay, including Brit- 
tany . # If we consult our maps,, we shall find, that 
this Assyrian deity had not a much longer journey 
to make " into the Highlands of Scotland/' than 
into Armoric Gaul. 

That this Belenus was also called Belis, we learn 
from Herodian, who, relating the siege of Aqui- 
leia, above referred .to, tells the same story of the 
interference of this local divinity, " whom," says 
he, u they call Belis, and to whom they pay ex- 



Harduin, who derives the name from the Celtic Ar-mor, that is, 
a upon the sea." 

* Nee reticebo sertem 
Nomine Phoebicum 
Qui Beleni cedituus 
Stirpe satus Druidum 
Gent is Aremorica 
Burdigali cathedram 
Nati opera obtinv.it. 

Ausonius, carm. 10. 
And, again, 

Tu Bajocassis, stirpe Druidarum satus, 

Si fama non fallit fidem, 
Beleni sacratum ducis e templo genus. 

Carm. 4. 



406 APPENDIX. 

u cessive veneration, holding him to be Apol- 
" lo."* 

I shall conclude this subject, by taking notice 
of a very remarkable passage of Plutarch: — " De- 
'• metrius," says he, in his Treatise De Defectu 
Oraculorwn, " besides related, that there are many 
" desart islands scattered about Britain, like the 
" Sporades of the Greeks, some of which are 
" named the islands of Demons, and others, of 
" Heroes; that he, being sent by the emperoiyj- 
" came into that which was nearest to the desart 
" isles; and having but a few inhabitants, who 
" were held sacred and inviolable by the Britons. 
"Upon his arrival," it is added, ee there arose a 
" great disturbance in the air ; many prodigies ap- 
" peared; and winds and storms assailed the earth, 
" When this was over, one of the islanders told 
ct him, that one of their most eminent persons had 
" just deceased," &c. 



'AttoXXwvo. hva» $e\ovTe<;.-'^HerQdian } lib. viii. c. 7 
f Orig. /JoKT-^fif?. 



APPENDIX. 407 

From this passage,, it would seem, that the fol- 
lowing conclusions may be fairly drawn : — 

1. " That the cluster of islands, here spoken of, 
" as resembling the Sporades of the Archipelago, 
" was the Hebrides." Anglesea cannot be in- 
tended ; for it forms no cluster of islands. Nei- 
ther can the Orkneys be meant; for we are in- 
formed, on the unquestionable authority of Tacitus, 
that they were unknown to the Romans, till to- 
wards the close of the first century, when they 
were discovered, for the first time, by the fleet of 
Agricola.* But this voyage of Demetrius, men- 
tioned by Plutarch, must have taken place under 
the Emperor Claudius, whose expedition against 



Eutropius, indeed, asserts, that the islands, which were added 
to the Roman empire, by Claudius, were the Orkneys ; but what 
is the authority of Eutropius, compared with that of Tacitus? 
He furnishes us, however, with a very important circumstance, 
founded, no doubt, on the general impression which was enter- 
tained, when he wrote, and probably handed down in history, 
that the islands, conquered by Claudius, were " Ultra Britanni- 
am, in oceano positas,''' — " situated beyond Britain, in the ocean." 
They could not, then, be the Scilly islands ; they must have beea 
the Hebrides. 



408 APPENDIX. 

Britain, we know, took place about A. D. 43 ; for 
it is certain, that, except Julius Caesar, Claudius 
was the only Roman emperor that visited this 
island, till after the death of Plutarch, who relates 
the story. 

2. u It would appear, that the emperor (@cm\evq) 
" had received his original information, concern- 
" ing these islands, from some Celtic Britons." 
He seems to have been informed, that some of 
them were called the islands of Demons; probably 
the Ifreoine, " the Cold island of Fingal," the 
term used, at this day, by the Highlanders, to de- 
nominate hell, or the place of torment; and others, 
the islands of Heroes, undoubtedly the Flath-innis, 
" the island of the Brave," the Celtic heaven, 

3. " That the few Britons, who were found in 
" one of those islands, who were held sacred and in- 
" violable by their countrymen, were no other than 
" the Druids." This character, we know, is uni- 
versally ascribed to them, in ancient history, as 
well as in tradition. It is even probable, that the 
island, which Demetrius visited, was Iona, formerly 



APPENDIX. 409 

called, by the Highlanders, Innis-druineach, or the 
• island of the Druids," and where, to this day, the 
natives point out Claodh nan Druidhean, or the 
<e burying place of the Druids." Perhaps Iona was 
their sacred residence in Caledonia, as Anglesea 
was in England. 



APPENDIX, 

No. II. 



ORIGIN OF SUPERSTITION, 



ILLUSTRATED IN THE 



MYTHOLOGY OF THE POEMS OF OSSIAN, 

professor Richardson 

OF GLASGOW COLLEGE. 



INTRODUCTION. 



jyj-ANKiND, in the earliest periods of human so- 
ciety, were acquainted with the doctrines of true 
religion. They believed in the existence, in the 
power, wisdom, goodness, and superintending 
providence of one Supreme Being; who, as the 



41S APPENDIX. 

Creator j and the Preserver, of all things, was the 
object of their religious worship. It also appears, 
that mankind, in the earliest ages, were in pos- 
session of many useful, and even elegant, arts. 
The proofs of these statements are presented, with 
convincing evidence, in the Sacred Writings ; and 
in the traditions of those heathen nations, of 
whose opinions and antiquity we have any good 
information. 

It is no less certain, that, in process of time, and 
even in a short time, all, or a great part, of this 
important knowledge was lost: excepting in one 
family, and afterwards in a very inconsiderable 
nation, men ceased to believe in one Supreme Be- 
ing. At the same time also, or rather previously, 
so far from preserving the advantages arising from 
useful and elegant arts, a great part of them be- 
came not only uncivilized, but utterly rude and 
savage. Scattered, as their numbers increased, in 
tribes and families, over the face of the earth, 
they degenerated into a state of barbarity, little 
different from those fierce and irrational animals, 
that inhabited the woods and desarts. 

Yet none of the uncivilized, or barbarous, tribes 



APPENDIX. 413 

and nations, of whom we have any certain ac- 
counts, were altogether destitute of some religious, 
or superstitious, opinions. If they knew not the 
true God, they believed in, and worshipped, a va- 
riety of other beings, greatly superior to them- 
selves, of a nature considerably different, and 
whom, as taking interest in their welfare, they 
were bound to adore. Yet opinions of this sort, 
and the consequent observances, did not originate 
either in revelation, or in the deductions of a well- 
informed understanding. They were derived solely 
from the impulses of passion and sensibility, co- 
operating with those associations of thought which 
proceed from the influences of a prompt and un- 
governed imagination. 

Here now, we have presented to us, an interest- 
ing and important.subject of inquiry: — What are 
those dispositions, those affections, those passions, 
or those tendencies of sensibility, which, exciting, 
promoting, or acting along with the combinations 
of fancy, produced such sentiments, and laid the 
foundation for a complex and extended system of 
religious, or superstitious, worship ? What are those 
principles, which have not their object within the 



414 APPENDIX. 

visible sphere of creation ; that, as it were, con- 
temn the authority of the senses, treat their no- 
tices as imperfect, and, employing the guidance 
and vigour of imagination, connect visible with 
invisible beings ; and subject mankind to the do- 
minion of agents existing in a different state, and 
with whom they were hitherto unacquainted ? In 
thus stating the matter, it seems, at first sight, 
extraordinary, that mere savages, who seem to 
live for the purposes alone of animal gratification, 
without much curiosity, and incapable of exten- 
sive reasonings, should be influenced by feelings, 
or sentiments, leading to such important conse- 
quences. 

Here, however, notwithstanding the apparent 
difficulty, it will immediately occur, that there are 
-many feelings and passions, in, the human mind, 
such as surprise, fear, astonishment, and admira- 
tion, which may induce even the most unimpro- 
ved of the human race, to conceive the existence 
of superior and invisible beings. Our inquiry is, 
therefore, limited to the investigation of those 
principles, which are not of a fugitive, or transient, 
nature, but which act with so much uniformity, 



APPENDIX. 415 

so much steadiness, and are of such general, or 
universal, extension, as to become the founda- 
tion of a permanent, complicated, and universal, 
system. Those, therefore, which seem to me to 
be the most completely adequate to this effect, 
and whose operation, in producing it, I proceed to 
illustrate, are affection and admiration for friends 
and heroic leaders, exciting such sorrow, at their 
death, as induces their survivors to believe, that 
they are not really, or altogether, dead; and to 
imagine them in such a separate state of exist- 
ence, as is suited to their powers and virtues. 



416 APPENDIX. 



PART I. 

JVLen, even in the rudest periods of society, are 
capable, in some measure, of distinguishing merit, 
or demerit, in human actions ; they are capable of 
being affected by, or of being grateful for, deeds 
of kindness ; they are capable of entertaining suit- 
able and corresponding sentiments towards ami- 
able and respectable characters; they love, and 
they admire : but love, friendship, and admira- 
tion suppose the existence of those qualities in 
their object, which are fitted to excite them, else 
these affections could not themselves exist. So 
that here, we have two things very intimately and 
habitually combined : — we have feelings and affec- 
tions, of a very peculiar kind, towards a particular 
object; and an intellectual conviction, that certain 
attributes, or properties, of a corresponding na- 
ture, actually exist in it. I observe, therefore, that 



APPENDIX. 417 

fondly attached as men are, in early ages, to their 
friends and protectors, such persons are not only 
the frequent subject of their thoughts, and topic 
of their discourse ; but also, that whenever they 
occur to their attention, or recollection, they are 
intimately connected with superior and illustrious 
qualities. The image of the individual, whom they 
love or esteem, as it arises to their fancy, or to 
their remembrance, is as inherently endowed with 
peculiar powers and virtues, as he is invested ex- 
ternally with an appropriate shape and figure. Hs 
is not more inseparably connected, in their appre- 
hension, with limbs of a certain proportion, or a 
complexion of peculiar tints, than with active spi- 
rit, and intrepid boldness. They can as little think 
of him divested of these, as of that particular struc- 
ture and colour of his external frame, by which his 
person is known to them. He cannot be concei- 
ved, as deprived of his mental, any more than of 
his bodily, appearance. But, if certain qualities 
be constantly and habitually combined with any 
particular object, their union will appear so close, 
especially to uncultivated minds, as to be account- 
ed inherent. Men have difficulty, and, conse- 

2d 



418 APPENDIX. 

quently, they have dislike; they have hesitation, 
and even reluctance, in considering them as sepa- 
rated from one another. The habit of always con-, 
necting the object and its customary properties, 
or attributes, occasions pain, in a peculiar manner, 
if they are suddenly and unexpectedly disunited. 
This sensation, of consequence, becomes still more 
acute, in the bosoms of those who are strangers to 
reflection, than to such as are more accustomed to 
distinguish and to discriminate. Men, in uncivi- 
lized ages, are, therefore, so exceedingly afflicted, 
by such unexpected separation, as to be willing, 
in the moment of their distress, to admit any con- 
sideration, or yield to any impression, that can les- 
sen their uneasiness, or afford them relief. Sup- 
pose now, that a person beloved, or almost reve- 
red, by a rude IiTdian, or Celtic, family, is sudden- 
ly deprived of life ; that he has no longer an}- 
power of motion, or any principle of worthy and 
affectionate conduct ; yet friendship and admira- 
tion were ever intimately and inherently united 
with his image, as it arose in their conception; 
and these affections, now rendered more animated 
by the shock they sustain, suppose him possessed 



APPENDIX. 419 

of corresponding qualities. How, therefore, are 
their feelings, and even the tendencies of their un- 
derstanding, affected ? Will they acquiesce calmly 
in the decrees of nature I Will their love, or their 
veneration, decay with instantaneous conviction, 
and be buried with the deceased ? On the con- 
trary, these affections are established, by habit, in 
the constitution, and will, therefore, continue : they 
are roused by a heavy stroke, and become exces- 
sive ; the deceased is before them ; their affec- 
tion for him is heightened with sorrow ; they love, 
they respect, they venerate, the deceased. But 
what do they venerate ? A nonentity ? — Suffice it 
to say, that, by the influence of admiration and 
affection, there is a predisposition in the mind to 
think of the dead, as if he still existed. Persons 
of sensibility have surely felt it. Persons of sen- 
sibility, in all periods, have felt it. The Africans, 
near the Cape of Good Hope, according to the 
accounts of an - enlightened traveller, reproach 
their friends, when they die, for leaving them. 
The rude Morlachians, according to the account 
of even a philosophical traveller, in the first mo- 
ments of their grief for a departed friend, expos- 



420 APPENDIX. 

tulate with him; and ask what had so offended 
him, as to make him forsake them ? Virgil, too., 
(for true poets speak the language of nature,) re- 
presents JEneas in the affectionate recollection of 
his father, as expressing a regret, somewhat tinc- 
tured with blame, for having left him in the * time 
" of need:" 

Hie me pater optime, fessum 
Deseris. 

In this state of feeling, in this disposition to con- 
sider the dead as conscious and capable of thought, 
imagination, the ready minister of every passion, 
affords immediate and efficacious relief; she sepa- 
rates the mind from the body, and reserves for it 
all those thoughts and sentiments which suit the 
grief of the mourner. The notion, indeed, that a 
being, in full possession of vigour and activity, 
and susceptible of the warmest affections, should 
pass immediately into a state of non-existence, and 
become nothing, exhibits a view so bleak, so 
dreary, and so repugnant to every ardent prepos- 
session, that the imagination shudders, and flies to 
visions more solacing and more enlivening. Was 



APPENDIX. 421 

it more natural for Matilda, grieving for the loss 
of her husband, to suppose him a nonentity, than 
to conceive him existing in a disembodied state, 
and often the witness of her complaint ? 



Ye woods and wilds, whose melancholy gloom 
Accords with my soul's sadness, and draws forth 
The voice of sorrow from my bursting heart, 
Farewell a while. I will not leave you long ; 
For in your shades I deem some spirit dwells, 
Who, from the chiding stream, or groaning oak, 
Still hears, and answers to Matilda's moan. 
O Douglas, Douglas, if departed ghosts 
Are e'er permitted to review this world, 
Within the circle of that wood thou art, 
And, with the passion of immortals, hear'st 
My lamentation ! 



Another circumstance operates, in a powerful 
manner, to establish a conviction of the separate 
state of the dead. The Celt, the Scythian, or In- 
dian, grieving for the loss of his friend, falls 
asleep, and beholds him in his dreams ; he con- 
verses with him, and enjoys unspeakable pleasure 
in this ideal intercourse; he awakens; he looks 
around for him, but sees him not; he calls, but re- 



422 APPENDIX. 

ceives no answer ; he hears nothing but the roar- 
ing of a stream, or the wind in the lonely forest ; 
he is filled with awe ; his heart is shaken ; he had 
laid his friend in the dust, yet he beheld him ; his 
feelings are as if in the presence of an invisible be- 
ing, of him whom he saw in his vision, of his 
friend disembodied, but still moved with affection. 
There is not a more happy example of grief, ope- 
rating and influencing the imagination, in this 
manner, than where Achilles, immediately after 
the death of Patroclus, is represented, in the Iliad, 
as beholding, and as conversing with, his friend in 
a dream : 



Hushed by the murmurs of the rolling deep, 
At length he sinks in the soft arms of sleep. 
"When, lo! the shade, before his closing eyes, 
Of sad Patroclus rose, or seemed to rise. 
In the same robe he living wore, he came, 
In stature, voice, and pleasing look, the same. 
Confused he wakes ; amazement breaks the bands 
Of golden sleep, and, starting from the sands, 
Pensive he muses, with uplifted hands. 
" 'Tistrue, 'tis certain, man, though dead, retains 
Part of himself ; th' immortal mind remains j 



APPENDIX. 423 

The form subsists, without the body's aid, 
Aerial semblance, and an empty shade ! 
This night, my friend, so late in battle lost, 
Stood at my side, a pensive, plaintive, ghost." 

Iliadj xxiii. 

Thus, then, we have, in the spirits of the dead, 
a numerous class of invisible, intelligent agents, 
in whom mankind are deeply and affectionately 
concerned ; and these are the immediate offspring 
of the genuine sensibilities and natural associa- 
tions of the human mind. I proceed to illustrate 
the process by which such visionary beings are 
exalted to the enjoyment of a happiness suited to 
their condition, and not only so, but to ^reat 
power and authority over the fortunes and affairs 
of men. 

II. Esteem, friendship, and admiration, depri- 
ved of their object, occasion sorrow. Though re- 
moved even by death, the natural tendency of sor- 
row is to affect the imagination so, as if the per- 
son for whom we grieved were, in some degree, 
sensible of the change he had undergone. The 
generality of mankind, in the first moments of 



424 APPENDIX. 

their sorrow for the death of friends, conceive of 
the dead as of a sufferer. They must, therefore, 
conceive him sensible ; and, if so, they conceive 
him existing somehow apart from the body. 
Under this impression, they think, they cannot 
testify their regard for him in a manner suffi- 
ciently strong and affecting. Accordingly, they 
do every thing in their power to console the dead, 
and to render his situation agreeable. They wash 
his wounds, if he has fallen in battle ; they close 
his eyes, and remove every thing offensive from 
his external appearance; they honour him, and 
celebrate his obsequies, with solemn pomp and 
magnificent ceremony : 

O more than brother ! think each office paid, 
Whate'er can rest a discontented shade. 

Here a striking effect ensues. By having per- 
formed these operations, the sorrow of surviving 
friends is relieved. They have discharged a duty ; 
they have gratified affection ; they have rendered 
the offices of friendship to the deceased ; they are 
somewhat satisfied, that he is sensible of what 
they have done ; that he is relieved, by their at- 



APPENDIX. 425 

tendon to the body, with which they still suppose 
him to have some connection; and that he is 
pleased, and has even some enjoyment, in this tes- 
timony of their regard. Having thus bestowed 
consciousness, and a new state of existence, on 
the deceased, and being comforted themselves, 
they transfer the condition of their own minds to 
their friend, and believe, that he also is comfort- 
ed. Thus, of consequence, they believe him ca- 
pable of being rendered happy. In confirmation 
of all this, let us remember, that, among rude na- 
tions, the dead are never supposed to pass into a 
state of ease, or felicity, till due obsequies are per- 
formed to them. No spirits were permitted to 
cross the Styx till they were inhumed. The In- 
dians of North America entertain similar opinions; 
and imagine, that certain rites are necessary, be- 
fore the souls of departed warriors can arrive at 
their blissful valleys. Upon this principle, also, is 
founded the practice of those elegiac writers of 
antiquity, and of those eminent moderns who 
have imitated them, in lamenting the dead, and in 
celebrating their virtues. The first part of the 
elegy is generally employed in rehearsing the 



426 APPENDIX. 

praises of the deceased ; in expressing sorrow for 
his departure ; and, in calling upon his friends to 
honour his memory, and solemnize his obsequies. 
The second part, containing the apotheosis, is 
consolatory. The deceased is comforted, and is 
not only pleased with their attentions, but is ca- 
pable of enjoying happiness : 

Extinctum nymphm crudeli funere Daphnim 

Flebant: vos coryli testes, etflumina nymphis ; 

Non ulli pantos Hits egere diebus 

Frigida, Daphni, boves adjlumina, fyc. 

Spargite humum foliis 

Et tumulum facite ; et tutnulo superaddite carmen, tyc. 

Thus, the mourners, having discharged their duties 
of respect, and having expressed the feelings of 
affection, are themselves comforted ; and, transfer- 
ring their own comfort to the deceased, they sup- 
pose, in the second part, that he is not only relie- 
ved, but rendered happy : 

Candidus insuetum miratur limen Olympi, 
Sub pedibusque videt nubes et sidera Daphnis. 
Semper honos, nomenq; tuum laudesq; manebunt, fyc. 

Weep no more, woeful shepherds, weep no more, 
For Lycidas, your sorrow, is not dead, 



APPENDIX, 427 

Sunk though he be beneath the watery floor : 
So sinks the day-star in the ocean bed, 
And yet anon repairs his drooping head, fyc. 

III. As we have thus immortalized the dead, 
and bestowed upon them a certain portion of ease 
and of happiness, it remains, that we consider in 
what manner they are to be exalted and rendered 
powerful. As the sorrow of men, lamenting for 
the death of dear and respected friends, is abated, 
and as they suppose them possessed of such ami- 
able or respectable qualities, as tend to confer, 
and entitle them to, the enjoyment of happiness, 
and deserve reward, they naturally conceive them 
to be in a state of supreme felicity. But their no- 
tions of felicity are suited to their own disposi- 
tions, and the character of the deceased. Men, in 
early periods, of enterprising minds, and of vigor- 
ous bodies, never imagine, that the gallant war- 
rior, so active and intrepid while alive, is to re- 
main, after his death, in mansions of indolence 
and listless pleasure. They never imagine, that he, 
who was formerly so zealously interested in the 
welfare of his nation, and had a bosom glowing 
with the liveliest affection, should now be unmind- 



428 APPENDIX. 

ful of his friends, of those who lament his death, 
and revere his memory. As he is removed from 
among them, as their remembrance of him is 
embalmed in their esteem, and as they are no 
longer the witnesses of his weaknesses ; his fail- 
ings, imperfections, and weaknesses, will be forgot- 
ten. They dwell on nothing, but on his virtues ; 
they enlarge and increase his powers. But what 
powers can he now possess ? Divested of the body, 
he is deprived of strength ; and this, in rude ages, 
must be accounted a great calamity. Yet an evil 
of this kind may be compensated. His nature is 
no longer gross and corporeal ; he is a thin aerial 
substance; he rises upwards; he sojourns on the 
top of high mountains, or has a dwelling among 
the clouds. In those countries, where there are 
many hills, and many exhalations ; where the 
clouds, and appearances of the atmosphere, are 
frequently varying, can any thing be more natural 
than to suppose, that the spirits of the dead are 
carried about, or reside among them ? When a 
ruler of the Roman state was deified, the eagle, 
that conveyed, or attended, his spirit from the fu- 
neral pile, ascended upwards. The splendid ap- 



APPENDIX. 42«> 

pearances of the sky, on the summit of Olympus, 
rendered it a fit place for the synod, or residence, 
of preternatural beings. As clouds, storms, and 
tempests, seemed to be driven, as it were, by living- 
agents, the spirits of the dead, having now attri- 
buted to them preternatural power, rendered the 
rain, and even the thunder and lightning, the sub- 
jects of their dominion. As winds and exhalations 
are apparently unsubstantial, bodily organs and 
strength were held ineffectual, in directing, or in 
restraining, them. What was the strength even of 
Ajax against a mist, or the agility of Achilles 
against a deluge ? But, by exalting distinguished 
warriors to this new supremacy, their surviving ad- 
mirers placed them in a situation suited to their 
high character, and rendered them capable, as it 
were, of protecting and preserving their friends : 



Candidas insuetum miratur lirnen Olympi: 
Sub pedibusq; videt nubes et sidera Daphnis. 
Semper honos, nomenq; tuum, laudesq; manebunt. 
Ut Baccho Cereriq;, tibi sic vota quotannis 
Agricolifacient. 

Now Lycidas, the shepherds weep no more j 
Henceforth thou art the Genius of the shore, 



430 APPENDIX. 

In thy large recompence ; and shall be good 
To all that wander in that perilous flood. 

In this manner, there is little difficulty in concei- 
ving how the spirits of the dead may, among even 
the rudest nations, be immortalized and deified. 
But the subject seems to receive particular illus- 
tration, from the mythology (for a mythology 
does exist,) in the Poems of Ossian, and which I 
now proceed particularly to illustrate. 



APPENDIX. 431 



PART II. 

VV e can scarcely conceive a rude people living 
in a state of greater seclusion, than the early inha- 
bitants of the Hebrides, and those islands and 
coasts of Scotland that extend to the north and 
west. Bounded, on two sides, by the Atlantic 
Ocean, and separated from the rest of the world, 
in every other quarter, by lakes, estuaries, and 
gloomy forests ; by tempestuous seas, and inacces- 
sible mountains ; by a barren soil, and forbidding 
climate, they had little intercourse with the rest of 
mankind ; and no other knowledge, civilization, 
or improvement, than arose from their own expe- 
rience and observation. If ever their ancestors 
enjoyed the advantages and information that be- 
long to an improved condition, these had been 
long lost and forgotten; so that their manners, 
customs, and opinions, may be considered as en- 



432 APPENDIX. 

tirely their own. In no region whatever, were the 
dispositions, passions, and natural associations of 
human thought, less liable, than among these ori- 
ginal Celts, to be restrained, or directed, by any 
thing foreign or extraneous. Whatever system, 
therefore, or scheme of opinions, can be discerned 
among them, must be the result of the unbiassed 
impulses of the human heart, and of the immedi- 
ate combinations of an active, but untutored, ima- 
gination. It were indeed difficult, if not impos- 
sible, in the history of any people, to point out a 
system of unrevealed, and unphilosophical, reli- 
gion, so genuine and so natural, so much the effect 
of sensibility, affection, and imagination, opera- 
ting, unrestrained by authority, unmodified by ex- 
ample, and untinctured with artificial tenets, as in 
the mythology of the Poems of Ossian. These 
poems, however, have not been supposed to exhi-< 
bit, in the manners of the people whom they de- 
scribe, any religious doctrines, or superstitious ob- 
servances. It affords, in truth, no slight presump- 
tion, or even internal evidence, of the authenticity, 
at least, of these passages where religious opinions 
occur, that the editor, or translator himself, not 



APPENDIX. 433 

discerning their real import, conceived, and as- 
serted, that they contained no mythology.* They 
make no mention, indeed, of Jupiter, or any deity 
of the Greeks and Romans ; they make no men- 
tion of Odin, and scarcely of any Scandinavian 
divinity, yet they disclose a mythological scheme, 
certainly not very complicated, nor constructed of 
many parts, but of which the particulars are very 
consistent, the arrangements distinct, and the li- 
mits sufficiently definite. 

I. In perfect consistency with the progress in 
the preceding theory, those Celtic tribes, whose 
manners are displayed by their cotemporary poet, 
felt all the sorrow, for the death and final removal 
of their friends and warriors, which flows from 
very high admiration and unrestrained affection. 
This sorrow, influencing the combinations of a 
wild and ungoverned fancy, induced them to be- 



* It appears, indeed, somewhat singular, that not only Mr 
Macpherson, but also Dr Blair, and the Abbe Cesarotti, the Ita- 
lian translator of Ossian, should have failed in tracing any mytho- 
logical ideas in these poems ; and that they should even take some 
pains to apologize for the absence of them. See Sir John Sinclair's 
Ossian, vol. iii. p. 297. et seq. — Note, by the Author of the Essay. 
% E 



434 APPENDIX. 

lieve, that the departed were not altogether dead ; 
and finally to believe, that they existed in a sepa- 
rate and superior condition. They supposed them 
exalted to celestial regions ; and that they so- 
journed among the meteors and the clouds of 
heaven. 

" A cloud hovers over Cona ; its blue circling 
" sides are high ; the winds are beneath it, with 
€t their wings j within is the dwelling of Fingal. 
a His friends sit around the king, on mist, and 
" hear the songs of Ullin. The lesser heroes, with 
" a thousand meteors, light the airy hall." 

Immediately after the death of a warrior, though 
the grief of his friends was animated, and led them 
to adorn him with every great and distinguishing 
quality, yet, having been so lately one of them- 
selves, they did not invest him with those high 
powers which they afterwards conferred upon him; 
and they imagined him, as well as themselves, a 
sufferer by the change he had undergone. They 
therefore testified their esteem, and expressed their 
sorrow, in the most respectful and affectionate 
manner. But, by this operation, the violence of 
their grief subsided, and they transferred the com- 



APPENDIX, 435 

fort, which they themselves experienced, to the 
deceased. They supposed him not only relieved, 
but happy; and, accordingly, the departed hero 
did not rise to his airy hall, till his obsequies were 
duly performed, and that he had heard " the song 
a of his fame." 

" No sleep comes down on Cathmor's eyes : 
t( dark, in his soul, he saw the spirit of low-laid 
" Cairbre: he saw him, without his song, rolled in 
« a blast of the night." 

te Cairbre came to Cathmor's dreams, half-seen 
" from his low-hung cloud. Joy rose, darkly, in 
(c his face ; for he had heard the song of Carril : 
" a blast sustained his dark-skirted cloud, which he 
" seized in the bosom of night, as he rose, with his 
" fame, towards his father's hall. Joy met the 
"soul of Cathmor! his voice was heard in Moi- 
cc lena : the bard gave the song to Cairbre : he 
" travels on the wind ; my form is in my father's 
« hall." 

Agreeably to the same notions, the spirits of 
men destitute of any merit, or of those whose con- 
duct had incurred infamy, could never rise to 
celestial mansions ; but were rolled, at the mercy 



436 APPENDIX. 

of the winds, plaintive and malignant, over noi- 
some fens, or by the margin of reedy lakes. 
Those again, whose merit had never been very 
eminently distinguished, but who had never suf- 
fered disgrace, ascended as the attendants of il- 
lustrious warriors, and were their ministers in the 
clouds. 

" The lesser heroes, with a thousand meteors, 
« light the airy hall ." 

II. After mentioning the place ©f abode, assign- 
ed to departed warriors, it may be proper to illus- 
trate their powers. Divested of the body, they 
could no longer exert bodily strength and agility. 
They could bend no bow, but one of aerial tex- 
ture ; nor wield a sword capable of inflicting 
wounds. Their form was a thin, etherial, sub- 
stance ; they were unfit for corporeal exertion ; 
and could encounter no adversary, in deeds of va- 
lour. Advanced, however, to immortality, cele- 
brated by bards, who magnified their atchieve- 
ments, and revered by surviving friends, they 
could not be mournful : on the contrary, they had 
conferred upon them a dominion of mighty power, 



APPENDIX. 437 

and perfectly suited to their present condition. 
Those natural sentiments of justice, which are in^ 
herent in every bosom, tended also to confirm 
their opinion ; for they thought it unjust, or un- 
reasonable, that men, in the actual discharge of 
important duties, and in the very exercise of dis- 
tinguished virtue, should be deprived of the ad- 
vantages, which they deserved, without being 
otherwise duly compensated ; and, if they thought 
of compensating, their imagination, and convic- 
tions of merit, could set no limits to the remune- 
ration. The contrast, between the imbecility of 
departed spirits, so far as regards bodily exertions, 
and their power over storms and tempests, is 
strikingly illustrated, in the following passage : — 

" The blasts of the north open thy gates, O 
H king ! and I behold thee sitting on mist, dimly 
et gleaming, in all thine arms. Thy form, now, is 
" not the terror of the valiant; but like a watery 
" cloud, when we see the stars behind it, with 
" their weeping eyes. Thy shield is like the aged 
" moon ; thy sword a vapour, half-kindled with 
" fire. Dim and feeble is the chief, who travelled 
" in brightness before. But thy steps are on the 



138 APPENDIX. 

" winds of the desart, and the storms darken in 
u thy hand. Thou takest the sun, in thy wrath, 
" and hidest him in thy clouds : the sons of little 
" men are afraid ; and a thousand showers de- 
" scend. But, when thou comest forth in thy 
" mildness, the gale of morning is near thy course; 
" the sun laughs, in his blue fields ; and the gray 
" stream winds in the valley." 

That the spirits of departed warriors were belie- 
ved to possess supremacy over the tempests, and 
that they employed their powers in behalf of their 
friends, and against their enemies, is manifest, 
from several passages* 

" As Trenmor, clothed in meteors, descends from 
" the halls of thunder, pouring the dark stream 
" before him, over the troubled sea, so Colgar de- 
•* scended to battle." 

The two following extracts not only illustrate 
their power, but the manner also, in which they 
might be addressed. 

" If any strong spirit of heaven sits on that low- 
" hung cloud, turn his dark ships from the rock, 
" thou rider of the storms." 

" O ye dark winds of Erin, arise ! and roar, ye 



APPENDIX. 439 

u whirlwinds of the heath! Amid the tempest, let 
€( me die, torn by angry ghosts of men." 

The power ascribed to the spirits of deceased 
warriors was threefold : — The first was that, which 
I have now endeavoured to illustrate; namely, the 
power of ruling the winds, and directing the tem- 
pests. The second, of which examples shall now 
be given, consisted in taking away life, by secret 
and unseen influences. 

It was apprehended, that, if the immortalized, 
and deified spirits of the deceased, ever interested, 
as they were supposed to be, in the welfare of 
those formerly dear to them, perceived them in 
danger, from unavoidable calamity, they imme- 
diately interposed, dissolved the union between 
the soul and the body, and conveyed their friends, 
from misery, to enjoy the repose and happiness of 
their aerial mansions. When Lamor, blind and 
aged, receives information, that his son had acted 
so improperly as to incur disgrace, overwhelmed 
with the misfortune, he thus addresses himself to 
the ghost of his ancestor : — 

" Spirit of the noble Garmallon, carry Lamor to 



440 APPENDIX. 

t€ his place : his eyes are dark ; his soul is sad ; and 
f< his son hath lost his fame." 

So too Suilmalla, apprehensive about the fate of 
her husband : — 

" Call me, my father, when the king is low on 
" earth ; for then shall I be lonely in the midst of 
" woe." 

The following passage is quite explicit : — 

" His hand is like the arm of a ghost, when 
ci he stretches it from a cloud : the rest of his 
" thin form is unseen ; but the people die in the 
" vale/' 

Sudden death, without the agency of any visible 
cause, affects the minds of a rude people, not only 
with fear, but with astonishment; and they ascribe 
such alarming events to the tremendous power of 
superior, invisible, beings. When the army of the 
Greeks was afflicted with a pestilential malady, the 
calamity was attributed to the shafts of Apollo. 
Ossian, in like manner, ascribes appearances, of 
this nature, to the interposition of some friendly, 
or unfriendly, spirit. 

As the spirits of the dead were believed to rule 



APPENDIX. 441 

in the atmosphere, and to have the power of 
taking away life, they were apprehended, in the 
third place, to have the power of prescience ; and 
that, as they possessed such ability, they were in- 
clined, on fit occasions, to grant a revelation of fu- 
ture events. Man, by nature provident, is for ever 
looking forward into the time to come ; and is so- 
licitous about his fortune, in the after periods of 
his life. He conceives the power of foreseeing 
what events are about to befall him, and the dis- 
covery of them, as a most important talent, and 
most desirable sort of knowledge. It is natural 
for him, therefore, if he believe in preternatural 
rulers, to suppose, that a part of their superiority 
may consist in prescience. Believing, that they 
can pass, in their aerial progress, with inconcei- 
vable rapidity from one place to another, it is not 
a violent transition to believe, that they can also 
pass from one time to another, and discry those 
events which are to arise, at a future, perhaps not 
a very distant, period. Imagining, too, that these 
superior beings may be propitiated by the atten- 
tions and prayers of mortals, they will expect the 
display of their benevolence, in such occasional re- 



4*2 APPENDIX. 

velation. Moreover, borrowing their notions of 
these invisible rulers from their own experience 
and observation, they suppose, that they bear some 
resemblance to great men upon earth ; the more 
so, if they actually believe them to be no other 
than illustrious heroes exalted to immortality; and, 
accordingly, none but their descendents, or per- 
sons of distinguished merit, will presume to ap- 
proach them ; nor will even these venture to ad- 
dress them, but as suppliants, filled with awe, and 
with veneration. The mode of revelation will also 
be of a corresponding nature. These exalted be- 
ings will not deign to make themselves altogether 
visible ; or they will not overwhelm their votaries 
by the splendour of their glory ; and will impart 
their knowledge obscurely, or by dreams and vi- 
sions. All these particulars are illustrated in the 
following sublime, yet very interesting, passage : — 
" Come, (said the hero,) O ye ghosts of my fa- 
" thers, who fought against the kings of the world, 
" tell me the deeds of future times, and your con- 
" verse in your caves, when you talk together, and 
" behold your sons in the fields of the valiant. 
f( Trenmor came from his hill, at the voice of his 



APPENDIX. 4*3 

" mighty son. A cloud, like the steed of the 
" stranger, supported his limbs ; his robe is of the 
" mist of Lano, that brings death to the people ; 
" his sword is a green meteor, half-extinguished ; 
" his face is without form, and dark. He sighed 
" thrice over the hero, and thrice the winds of the 
" night roared aloud. Many were his words to 
" Oscar; but they only came by halves to our ears: 
" they were dark, as the tales of other times, before 
" the light of the song arose." 

It might be shewn, that the religion of the 
Greeks and Romans proceeds upon similar prin- 
ciples ; in like manner also, that of the ancient 
Egyptians, and that of the ancient Scandinavians. 
In their great original outlines, they correspond 
exactly with the mythology exhibited in the Poems 
of Ossian.* 



* This Discourse, with the exception of some illustrations 
lately added, on the first part, was read before a literary society, 
in Glasgow College, so long ago as the year 1775; and, although 
a considerable time has now intervened, the Author has not found 
it necessary to alter, or even to qualify, the opinion, on this sub- 
ject, which he was then led to entertain. 



APPENDIX, 
No. III. 



LETTER 



JAMES MACPHERSON, ESQ. 



CAPTAIN MORISON. 



DEAR SIR, August 18th, 1789. 

I return your letter, as Sir John 
is in the North. Not only Ossian, but much more., 
is going on; the establishing the whole language, 
on primitive, clear, unerring, and incontrovertible 
principles. The Gaelic, now traced to its source^ 
has been already found to be the most regular, the 
most simple, and the most pleasing to the ear, and 



446 APPENDIX. 

almost to the eye, of any language either of past or 
present times. 

You may acquaint our worthy friend, the very 
respectable amateur of the Gaelic language, Sir 
James Foulis, of the above general intimation. — 
I am, 

Very faithfully yours, 

(Signed) J. Macpherson. 
Captain Morison, Greenock. 



POSTSCRIPT. 



1 he recent publication of the inestimable origi- 
nals of Ossian, by Sir J ohn Sinclair, Bart, together 
with a learned dissertation on their authenticity, 
by himself, and another by Dr Macarthur, whilst 
it should seem to supersede the necessity of fur- 
ther discussion, renders it, at ieast, proper to state 
to the public a few circumstances with respect to 
the present attempt. 

With regard to any superfluous coincidence of 
argument, between this Essay, and those which 
have preceded it in publication, it is presumed, 
that none shall be found. This Essay was written 
some years ago. It was read, in the Author's turn 
of giving a discourse, in the weekly meetings of 
the Literary Society in Glasgow College, in the 



448 POSTSCRIPT. 

years 1803, 1804, and 1806. Having' formerly re- 
ceived the greatest delight from the perusal of the 
Seventh Book of Temora, in the original, and 
from many of the fragments of Gaelic poetry col- 
lected by Dr Smith, it had long been his most 
earnest wish to see the whole originals of Mr Mac- 
pherson's translations given to the public. It was, 
therefore, with the greatest pleasure, that he obser- 
ved, in 1806, the intimation of their speedy ap- 
pearance, by Sir John Sinclair. 

He delayed the publication of this Essay for 
more than a year, in the expectation of the ac- 
complishment of this promise ; but much time 
having elapsed, he began again to lose all hope of 
seeing these valuable originals in their native dress. 
It was only after every arrangement had been 
made for the publication of this Essay, that the 
Author, on his way to Edinburgh, observed, for the 
first time, the splendid work of Sir John Sinclair 
announced in a London newspaper. 

It is, besides, necessary to take notice of this cir- 
cumstance, in order to account for the manner in 
which the original poetry of Ossian is spoken of 
throughout this Essay, as still unpublished. Though 



POSTSCRIPT. 449 

the Author has seen this great work, since his Es- 
say went to press, it was too late to change its 
form, or to accommodate it to existing circum- 
stances ; nor did it appear to be of material con- 
sequence to make such an alteration. The Seventh 
Book of Temora, alone, is sufficient to establish 
the argument of the incalculable superiority of the 
original verse to Mr Macpherson's prose transla- 
tion ; and the manner in which the subject is 
here spoken of, may even serve to shew how 
much the publication of this poetry had been 
desiderated amongst us, as well as the anticipa- 
tions which had been formed of its intrinsic excel- 
lence. 

This singular poetry is now before the public. 
It will speak for itself, and fully support every ar- 
gument, which has been founded on the anticipa- 
tion of its superior merit. As far as the Author has 
hitherto had an opportunity of examining these 
originals, they appear to be, throughout, of an ex- 
cellence and dignity similar and equal to the Se- 
venth Book of Temora. This whole Book, in par- 
ticular, the Author has diligently compared, in Sir 
2 F 



450 POSTSCRIPT. 

John's edition, and in that which he now offers to 
the public. There appears to be no material dif- 
ference. In Sir John's, there occur some errors 
in orthography, not easily to be avoided in the 
Gaelic language. Thus, amongst others, we have 
in verse 407, benan for beann. From verse 383 to 
the end of verse 389, the difficulty of a difficult 
passage is increased, by the want of punctuation. 
In all this passage, the eye is relieved only by one 
semicolon. 

I observe, that, in verses 102 and 346, Sir John 
reads ciar, " dark," instead of cearr, " oblique," as 
Mr Macdiarmed had it. Ciar is not unsuitable to 
the sense of these passages ; but, perhaps, ctarr is 
more poetical. 

Brunadh, in verse 199, seems to be a provincial 
term ; pronnadh is surely better. 

Ciabh-bhog, as Sir John has it, verse 167, is nei- 
ther so agreeable to the sense, or to the ear, as 
ciabhag. 

In Sir John's edition, the whole beauty of a pas- 
sage, cited above as a fine instance of the parallel- 
ism, or balancing, of the verses of the couplet, is 

lost, by reading mo shollus, instead of am shollus. 

U 



POSTSCRIPT. 451 

With Sir John, and also in Mr Macfarlane's Latin 
translation, it is, 

" I arise, my light, (i. e. my love,) from the contest, 
" Like a meteor of night from the bursting cloud." 

In the edition offered above, it is, 

" I arise like a light from the contest, 

" Like a meteor of night from the bursting cloud." 

These, however, are venial ; perhaps, in a work 
of such extent, unavoidable errors. The treasure 
of verse, now presented to the public, has not been 
surpassed, in importance and value, since the pe- 
riod in which the poetry of Homer was first usher- 
ed into the world by Lycurgus. The time will 
arrive, when it shall be duly estimated by the 
public. 

Yet much remains still to be done. Mr Mac 
pherson deserves, and shall have, his full meed of 
praise. At an auspicious period, he brought the 
scattered limbs of the bard together, and arranged 
them not unhappily ; but a skilful anatomist may 
still discover many members disjointed and mis- 



452 POSTSCRIPT. 

placed ; a reduction of some parts may be neces- 
sary. Cesarotti has already remarked, concerning 
one episode, that it is not introduced in its proper 
place. Celtic scholars may yet find occupation in 
restoring these valuable poems to their genuine 
order and form. 



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Mr David Erskine, do. do. 

Nicol Ewing of Keppoch, Esq. Major 28 Militia. 

James Ewing, Esq. junior, Greenock. 



F. 



Mr James Farnie, Bruntisland. 
Dugald Fergusson, Esq. Greenock. 
Dugald Fergusson, Esq. W. S. Edinburgh. 
Louis H. Ferrier, Esq. 
John Ferrier, Esq. 
Kirkman Findlay, Esq. Glasgow. 
Reverend Dr James Finlayson,,Edinburgh. 
Do. for the Library of the University. 



458 SUBSCRIBERS NAMES. 

Reverend Mr Fleming. 

John Fletcher of Dimans, Esq. 

Captain James Forbes, Ardchoyline. 

Reverend Dr Paul Fraser, Inverary. 

Reverend Mr William Freeland, Buchanan. 

Robert Freeland, Esq. Glasgow. 

Mr Allan Fullarton, messenger at arms, do. 



The most Noble the Marquis of Graham. 

William Gallowaj , Esq. Edinburgh, 2 copies 

Alexander Garden, Esq. 

James Gardiner, Esq. Glasgow. 

John Gaudie, Esq. do. 

Reverend Dr Gavin Gibb, Strathblane. 

N. Gibson, Esq. writer, Paisley. 

Andrew Gilbert, Esq. Glasgow. 

John Gillies, Esq. do. 

Reverend Mr John Gillespie, Arrochar. 

Robert Goodwin, Esq. 

William Glen, Esq. Glasgow. 

Lewis Gordon, Flsq. Dep. Secretary to the Highland 

Society of Scotland. 
George Gordon, Esq. Gogar-house. 
John Gordon, Esq, Glasgow 

Wm. C. Cuninghame Graham of Gartmore, Esq. 5 copies. 
Mrs Cuninghame Grah?i», 5 copies. 



SUBSCRIBERS NAMES. 459 

Brig. Gen. Graham Stirling of Duchray and Auchyle. 
Colonel James Graham, Glasgow. 
Robert Graham of Fintry, Esq. 
Robert Graham, Esq. W. S. 
John Alexander Graham, Esq. Leith. 
Mrs John Alexander Graham. 

Captain John Graham of the Duchess of Montrose ex- 
cise yacht. 
Mrs John Graham. 
William Graham of East Vale, Esq. 
Robert Graham of Whitehill, Esq. 
John Graham, Esq. Glasgow. 
Walter Graham, Esq. do. 
James Graham, Esq. do. 
James Graham, Esq. do. 
George Graham of Duniverig, Esq. 
Mr John Graham Blaruskan. 
Mr Walter Graham of Brachern. 
Mr Duncan Graham, Blarhulichan. 
Mr David Graham, writer in Kippen. 
Alexander Grant, jun. Esq. Glasgow. 
James Grant, Esq. Anderston. 
James Grant, Esq. writer, Edinburgh. 
Mr Greenlaw. 

Mr Robert Grieve, North Leith. 
Mr Robert Grindlay, Glasgow. 
John Guthrie, Esq. do. 



460 SUBSCRIBERS NAMES, 



H. 



Robert Haddow, Esq. 

John Hagart of Cairnmuir, Esq. advocate. 

James Haig, Esq. 

Reverend Robert Haldane, Drumelzier. 

Reverend Dr George Hamilton, Gladsmuir. 

James Hamilton, Esq. of the Excise, Edinburgh. 

John Hamilton of North Park, Esq. 

Mr John Hamilton. 

Hugh Hamilton, Esq. 

Mr John Hannay, messenger at arms, Glasgow. 

George Henderson, Esq. Greenock. 

Charles Houshold, Esq. Glasgow. 

Andrew Hunter, Esq. do. 

John Hynd, Esq. 



I. 



Mr William Jack, Glasgow. 
William Jamieson, Esq. do. 
Mr Professor Jardine, Glasgow College. 

JefTeray, Esq. writer, Edinburgh. 
Reverend Mr James Jeffrey, Balfron. 
William Johnstone, Esq. 
William Irvine, Esq. 



SUBSCRIBERS NAMES. 461 



K. 



William Kerr, Esq. Secretary to the General Post Office. 
Robert Kerr, Esq. Bruntisland. 
Mr John Kelly, do. 



L 



Mrs Malcolm Laing. 

David Laird, Esq. 

Gavin Lang, Esq. writer, Paisley. 

John Laurie, Esq. Glasgow. 

John Laurie, Esq. ironmonger, do. 

John Leckie, Esq. of Broich. 

David Lillie, Esq. 

John Likely, Esq. banker, Paisley. 

Michael Lining, Esq. 

John Longnruir, Esq. Glasgow. 

John Loudon, Esq. 



M. 



His Grace the Duke of Montrose, 5 copies. 
Her Grace the Duchess of Montrose, 5 copies. 
Sir John Macgregor Murray of Lanark, Bart. 
Lady Macgregor Murray. 



4.62 SUBSCRIBERS NAMES. 

Reverend Sir Harry Moncre iff Well wood, Bart 

Reverend Dr George Macartney, Whitehall, Ireland. 

Captain A. C. Macartney, R. A. Chatham. 

Joseph Macartney, Esq. Dublin. 

Miss Macartney, St JamesVplace, Leith. 

Mr William Isaac Macartney, do. 

Peter Macadam, Esq. Glasgow. 

John Maccaul of Craigbank, Esq. 

David Macculloch, Esq. Glasgow. 

Ranald Geo. Macdonald of" Clanranald, Esq. 2 copies. 

Ranald Macdonald of Staffa, Esq. 

William Macdonaid of St Martin's, Esq. 

Alexander Macdonald of Glenalladale, Esq. 

William Macdonald, Esq. Greenock. 

Roderic Macdonaid, Esq. Glasgow. 

Robert Macdonald, Esq. 

Reverend Mr Macdougall, Lochgoilhead. 

Mr John Macdougall, Lettermay. 

Mr Donald Macdougall, Auchindunan. 

Captain A. Macdougall, Stirlingshire Militia. 

Captain D. Macdougall, do. 

Reverend Dr Macfarlane, Drymen. 

Mr Walter Macfarlane, Glengyle. 

Mr Duncan Macfarlane, Strathore. 

Duncan Macfarlane, Esq. Glasgow. 

Hugh Macfarlane of Callichra, Esq. 

James Macfarlane of Balwill, Esq. 

Mr Alexander Macfarlane, Aberfoyle. 

Mr John Macfarlane, Balfron. 



m 

Mr Donald Mil fill .1', Ledard. 

Mr Donald Macfar: 

Mr Alexander Macfarlane, stodent of divk. 8* 

Mr Walter Macieat, hot gam. 

William Macfie, Esq. Greenock. 

Capt. Ewan John Macgregor Murray of Glencairaaig. 

Reverend Mr James Macgibbon, Inveraray. 

John Macilquham of Hyde Park. E 

John Macilroy, Esq. Glasgow. 

George Macim ;w, 2 copies. 

Charles Macintosh >f Lav era-hill, Z 

John Mackintosh, E _ ow. 

Andrew Mackintosh, Esq. 

Reverend Dr Joseph Macintyre, Glenorchay. 

Patrick Macintyre .nerara. 

Dvmcan Macintyre. Esq. Callander. 

John Macintyre, Esq. Hotcheson's- street, Glasgow. 

Donaid Macintyre, B r, do. 

William Gordon Mack, El i.-^ow. 

George Mackay. Esq. collector o: -reeoock. 

Mr Alexander Ma . library 

Edinburgh, S : - ; 
John Mackean, Esq. Glasgow. 
Mrs Mack 
Mr Mackmia 

Henry Mackenzie. Z iTcheqaer. 

James Mackenzie c : / I 

Robert Mackenzie, Esq. job. Dunbarton. 
John Maclachlane, Esq. Bannachra. 
Archibald Maclachlane, Esq. ChariestowB. 



464 SUBSCRIBERS NAMES. 

Colin Maclachlane, Esq. Glasgow. 

Hugh Maclachlane, Esq. Demerara. 

Reverend Mr George Maclatchie, Mearns. 

Mr Alexander Maclaurin, West-port, Edinburgh. 

Walter Ewing Maclea, Esq. of Cathkin. 

John Norman Macleod of Macleod, Esq. 2 copies. 

Reverend Dr John Macleod, Kilmodan. 

Andrew Macmillan, Esq. Glasgow. 

John Macmurrich, Esq. do. 

John Macmurrich, Esq. Jamaica-street, do. 

Robert Macnab, Esq. do. 

Archibald Macnab, Esq. Campbelneld, do. 

Alexander Macnab, Esq. do. 

Robert Macnair of Belvidere, Esq. 

William Macneill, Esq. Glasgow. 

Mr Alexander Macpherson, Auchrioch. 

Mr Duncan Macpherson. Glasgow. 

James Macpherson, Esq. Hutcheson's-street, do. 

Mr Robert Macready of the Excise, Oban. 

B. Macrocket, Esq. 

Reverend Mr Mactavish, Inverchaolan. 

Dr William Macturk, Prof. Eccl. Hist. Glasgow. 

Charles Macvicar, Esq. Levenside. 

James Martin, Esq. Antigua. 

Benjamin Matthie, Esq. Glasgow. 

David Matthie, Esq. do. 

Thomas Meek, Esq. do. 

Dr William Meikleham, Prof. Nat. Phil. Glasgow. 

William Mellis, Esq. do. 



SUBSCRIBERS NAMES. 465 

Capt James Melville of the Earl Moira excise yacht. 

Dr Melville, Stirlingshire Militia. 

George Menzies, Esq. Chamberlain to his Grace the 

Duke of Montrose. 
Mr Menzies. 

Mr Professor Millar, Glasgow. 
James Millar, Esq. do. 
William Mills, Esq. 
William Milne, Esq. 
Duncan Monach, Esq. Glasgow. 
James Monteith, Esq. Buchanan-street, do. 
Henry Monteath, Esq. of Monkland. 
Reverend Mr John Monteath, Houston. 
John Monteath, Esq. Glasgow. 
Mr John Moffat, of the Excise. 
Eobert Mowbray, Esq. Bath-place, Leith. 
JEneas Morison, Esq. Greenock. 
Mr Robert Muir, Glasgow. 
Alexander Muirhead, Esq. 
James Murdoch, Esq. Glasgow. 
Mrs Murray, Mountriddel. 
Reverend Mr Patrick Murray, Kilmudock. 
John Murray of Lintrose, Esq. 
William Murraj^ Esq. R. N. 
Mr Professor Mylne, Glasgow. 



2 G 



466 SUBSCRIBERS NAME!. 



N. 



John Napier of Ballikinren, Esq. 
Mr Macvey Napier, for Society for the Signet Lib* 
brary. 



Major Robert Ogilvie, JohnVplace, Leith. 

Robert Orr, Esq. 

Mr A. Oswald, 2 copies. 



Captain Parker of Blochairn. 

Charles S. Parker, Esq. Glasgow. 

Duncan Paterson, Esq. Inverary. 

Dugald Paterson, Esq. 

A. H. Pattison, Esq. 

William Penny, Esq. Glasgow. 

John Peters, Esq. 

William Pillans, Esq. Leith-mount. 

Patrick Playfair, Esq. Dalmarnoch. 

David Prentice, Esq. Glasgow. 

Robert Pringle, Esq, collector of excise, Orkney. 



SUBSCRIBERS NAMES. 467 



R. 



Sir John Buchanan Riddel of Riddel, Bart. 

Right Hon. Lady Frances B. Riddel. 

James Rankine, Esq. 

Reverend Mr Rankine, S. Knapdale. 

Robert Rainey, Esq. 

Captain Raynes, Stirlingshire Militia. 

Reverend Mr Reid, New Cumnock. 

Mr Professor Richardson, Glasgow. 

Do. for the Library of the University. 

Matthew Richardson, Esq. 

Henry Ritchie, Esq. 

James Robertson, Esq. of Sanquhar. 

James Robertson, Esq. John-street, Glasgow. 

James Robertson, Esq. do. 

William Rodger, Esq. do. 

Charles Ross, Esq. 

Basil Ronald, Esq. Glasgow. 



S. 



Sir Alexander Seton, Bart. 

Colonel James Francis Scott, Ely Lodge, Fife, 2 copies. 

Mr James Sands, junior. 

George Scougall, Esq. St. JohnVplace, Leith. 

Richard Scougall, Esq. Marionville. 



468 SUBSCRIBERS NAMES. 

Joshua Senior, Esq. Glasgow. 

William Shortridge, Esq. do. 

James Smith, jun, Esq. of Jordan-hill, 

John Smith of Craigend, Esq. 

John Smith, Esq. 

David Smith, Esq. 

Stewart Smith, Esq. 

Thomas Irvine Smith, Esq. 

Archibald Sorely, Esq. Glasgow. 

Archibald Speirs of Elderslie, Esq. 2 copies. 

The Honourable, Mrs Speirs, 2 copies. 

Peter Speirs of Culcruich, Esq. 2 copies. 

Mrs Speirs, 2 copies. 

Thomas Spens, Esq. Greenock. 

James Spreule of Lint- house, Esq. 

Alexander Stewart, Esq. St Andrews-square, Glasgow. 

Mr Alexander Stewart, merchant. 

Reverend Dr Charles Stewart, Strachur. 

David Stewart, Esq. late of Jamaica. 

Reverend Mr Francis Stewart, Craignish. 

James Stewart of Tar, Esq. 

James Stewart, Esq. 

Reverend Mr John Stewart, Lismore. 

William Stewart of Ardvorlich, Esq. 

Patrick G. Stewart, Esq. Perth. 

Peter Stewart, Esq. Kent-street, Glasgow. 

Peter Stewart, Esq. do. 

John Stewart Esq. writer do. , 

John Stewart of Lennieston, Esq. 



SUBSCRIBERS NAMES. 463 

Richard Steel, Esq. Green-head, Glasgow. 
Charles Stirling of Kenmuir, Esq. 2 copies. 
Reverend Mr R. Stirling, for the Leightonian Library, 

at Dunblane. 
Reverend Mr Stirling, Port. 
Stirling Subscription Library. 
Robert Struthers, Esq. Glasgow. 
James Struthers, jun. Esq. do. 
Thomas Strong, Esq. Leith. 
Reverend Dr John Stuart, Luss. 
James Sutherland of Duffus, Esq. 
Captain Swinton, Loretto, Musselburgh. 



T. 



Reverend Dr William Taylor, Principal of the Uni- 
versity of Glasgow. 
John Tennant, Esq. Glasgow. 
John Tennant, jun. Esq. 
Alexander Thomson, Esq. Greenock, 
Lieutenant A. Thomson, 74th regiment. 



U. 
Dr James Ure, Glasgow, 



470 SUBSCRIBERS NAMES. 



W. 



Lieut. Gen. Wemyss, Wemyss Castle. 

Archibald Wallace, Esq. Glasgow. 

David Walker, Esq. 

John Watson, Esq. 

Reverend Mr Watson, South Ronaldsay. 

James Watt, Esq. Greenock. 

Mr Watt, Stirlingshire Militia. 

John Weir, Esq. Greenock* 

John White, Esq. Jeweller, Edinburgh, 3 copies. 

Mrs White, 3 copies. 

John White, Esq. Paisley. 

Reverend Mr Whyte, Kilmarnock. 

Alexander Wighton, Esq. George's-street, Glasgow. 

Alexander Wilson Esq. Glasgow. 

John Wilson, Esq. do. 

James Wilson, Esq. Hurlet. 

Jacob George Wrench, Esq. London. 

James Wright, Esq. Stirling. 

Thomas Wright, Esq. do. 

Reverend Mr George Wright, Markinch. 

Mr John Wyllie, Glasgow. 

John Wyllie, Esq. writer, Paisley. 



SUBSCRIBERS NAMES. 471 



Mr Professor Young of Glasgow College, 



ERRATA. 

Page 9. line 11. For Britannnos, 1 ead Britannos. 

S3. 7. Dele the mark of reference, and the whole 

note to which it refers. 

— — 50. 4. from the bottom, for margin, read margins. 

i 123. 8. Dele it is. 

176. 9. Dele also. 

i 293. to 1. 1 > . Add of. 

330. line 10. For Faceams, read Faiceams, 

362. — 9. For Cear, read Cearr. 



Edinburgh : 
Printed by James Ballantyne & C©» 



8 I 



470 SUBSCRIBERS NAMES. 



W. 

Lieut. Gen. Wemyss, Wemyss Castle. 

Archibald Wallace, Esq. Glasgow. 

David Walker, Esq. 

John Watson, Esq. 

Reverend Mr WTTrC *-*•» * — ,J ~ 



John Wyllie, Esq. writer, Paisley. 



SUBSCRIBERS NAMES. 471 

Y. 

Mr Professor Young of Glasgow College. 

FINIS. 



Edinburgh : 
Printed by James Ballantjne & C®. 



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